Emergence of auditory–visual discrimination and tacts through exclusionary responding

Abstract

This study examined if listener behavior and responding by exclusion would emerge after training 3 participants with autism to tact stimuli. Tacts for 2 of 3 stimuli were directly trained using discrete trial training methodology and were followed by an auditory–visual discrimination probe in which auditory–visual discrimination by naming (i.e., bidirectional naming of trained tacts) and auditory–visual discrimination by exclusion were assessed; in subsequent sessions, tacting by exclusion probes were conducted in which tacts for the exclusion target (i.e., stimulus not trained as a tact) were assessed. All 3 participants demonstrated auditory–visual discrimination by naming, auditory–visual discrimination by exclusion, and tacting by exclusion across all comparisons. Results suggest that programming for learning by exclusion can provide an efficient way to enhance skill acquisition.