Further evidence of automatic reinforcement effects on verbal form

Author(s)

Dal Ben, Rodrigo ^[1] ; Goyos, Celso ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Psychol, Rodovia Washington Luis, Km 235, 676, BR-13565905 Sao Carlos, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: ANALYSIS OF VERBAL BEHAVIOR; v. 35, n. 1, p. 74-84, APR 2019.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

The form of a verbal response allows for reinforcement mediation and language transmission across cultures. Reinforcement, in turn, plays a decisive role in learning verbal forms. The present work addresses methodological limitations of previous studies, providing further evidence of the role of automatic reinforcement in achieving parity with vocal models. In the first experiment, 4 preschool-age children heard the experimenter describe drawings of different actions in the passive voice. Participants were then asked to describe analogous drawings. They used the passive voice after the model was presented and continued to do so even when preferred explicit consequences followed diverging descriptions (i.e., in the active voice). To further investigate the effects of explicit reinforcement and of the passive-voice model, in Experiment 2, we altered the number of trials with explicit reinforcement and with the model. Three of four participants used the passive voice to describe the drawings, despite greater exposure to explicit consequences following descriptions diverging from the model. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/24761-0 - The role of modeling, explicit reinforcement and automatic reinforcement in the passive voice descriptions: replication of Wright (2006) and Ostvik et al. (2012)
• Grantee: Rodrigo Dal Ben de Souza
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master