Abstract
Recently, there has been a proliferation of research on the functional independence of two of Skinner’s (1957) verbal operants, the mand, and the tact. This research has produced highly variable results. In this article, we provide a critical review of the literature on mand–tact independence, a literature that has implications for both theory and practice. Included in the review are 17 studies with a total of 66 participants who were tested for mand emergence following tact training, tact emergence following mand training, or both, and 11 additional studies that systematically manipulated variables expected to affect the outcomes of such tests. A primary finding is that most studies to date suffer from problems with construct validity. However, it may be justifiable to conclude that the literature provides at least weak support for the functional independence of mands and tacts. Future investigators should avoid the major construct validity pitfalls described in this article, describe participant characteristics more thoroughly, and consider alternative approaches to studying mand–tact independence.
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Notes
A more conservative criterion could have been used; for example, we could have required a majority of participants to fail all probes for the untrained operant in order for results to be considered consistent with functional independence. We did not find that using a more conservative criterion altered any of the conclusions presented in this article. However, Tables 1, 2, and 3 should provide enough data for readers to conduct independent analyses based on other criteria for classifying study outcomes.
For this reason, we will sometimes refer to the controlling variables of tacts as visual stimuli and speak of them being visible, in the context of discussing these studies. However, it is important to acknowledge that the non-verbal discriminative stimulus that controls a tact may be presented in any sense modality (Skinner 1957).
Mand training procedures typically involve specific reinforcement via the delivery of the stimulus manded in each trial, which is the defining consequence of the mand (Skinner 1957). However, specific reinforcement is not sufficient to establish a mand; the reinforcement must also result in control by a relevant EO. Similarly, although tacts are generally not established via specific reinforcement, we cannot rule out the possibility that a mand training procedure involving specific reinforcement may establish tact control in addition or instead of control by an EO. For example, a consequence that appears specific from the experimenter’s point of view (e.g., cookies) might actually function as a nonspecific reinforcer (“someone gave me something”) unrelated to a particular EO.
In the Sigafoos et al. (1989, 1990) studies, tact-to-mand transfer may have been facilitated by the use of iconic communication cards. Specifically, although the manded item itself was not visible at the beginning of each mand trial, a pictorial representation of the item was visible on the participants’ communication cards.
In Petursdottir et al. (2005), one participant was given modified instructions in mand probes after repeatedly responding “I need another piece” in the presence of the verbal stimulus “What do you need?” The instruction was modified by adding “Which one?” following occurrences of this response. However, no mands were observed in spite of the modified instruction.
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Portions of this paper are based on the first author’s doctoral dissertation, conducted under the supervision of the second author at Universidade Federal de São Carlos. The authors are grateful to FAPESP, CNPq, and CAPES for financial support.
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Gamba, J., Goyos, C. & Petursdottir, A.I. The Functional Independence of Mands and Tacts: Has It Been Demonstrated Empirically?. Analysis Verbal Behav 31, 10–38 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-014-0026-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-014-0026-7