Abstract
The vocal behavior of five children was recorded and analyzed during pre- and post-pairing conditions. Between these conditions there was a pairing condition where a target sound, word, or phrase was paired with an established form of reinforcement (e.g., tickling). In the first experiment all of the children emitted the targeted responses during the post-pairing condition. The results showed that the children acquired new vocal and verbal responses by pairing neutral stimuli with established forms of conditioned or unconditioned reinforcement. Perhaps the most significant aspect of these results was that new vocal responses were acquired by the children without the use of direct reinforcement, echoic training, or prompts. In the second experiment several parameters of the pairing procedure were examined. The results of the two experiments have implications for the analysis of native language acquisition, and for the development of language intervention procedures for individuals who fail to acquire language.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bijou, S.W., & Baer, D.M. (1965). Child Development II: Universal stage of infancy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Braine, M. D. S. (1963). The ontogeny of English phrase structure: The first phrase. Language, 39, 1–13.
Brown, R. (1973). A first language: The early stages. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Chomsky, N. (1959). A review of B. F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior. Language, 35, 26–58.
Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of theory and syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
de Villiers, J. G., & de Villiers, P. A. (1978). Language acquisition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Ervin-Tripp, S. (1964). Imitation and structural change in children’s language. In E. H. Lenneberg (Ed.), New directions in the study of language, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Hart B., & Risley T. R. (1995). Meaningful differences. Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks.
Lenneberg, E. H. (1967). The biological basis of language. New York: Wiley.
Lovaas, I., Newsom, C., & Hickman, C. (1987). Self-stimulatory behavior and perceptual reinforcement. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 20, 45–68.
McNeill, D. (1970). The acquisition of language. New York: Harper and Row.
Miller, N. E., & Dollard, J. (1941). Social learning and imitation. New Haven, CN: Yale University Press.
Mowrer, O. H. (1950). Learning theory and personality dynamics. New York: The Ronald Press Company.
Neisser, U. (1976). Cognition and reality. San Francisco: Freeman.
Novak, G. (1996). Developmental psychology: Dynamical systems and behavior analysis. Reno, NV: Context Press.
Osgood, C. E. (1953). Method and theory in experimental psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Palmer, D. C. (1996). Achieving parity: The role of automatic reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 65, 289–290.
Piaget, J. (1951). Play, dreams, and imitation in childhood. New York: Norton.
Pinker, S. (1994). The language instinct: How the mind creates language. New York: William Morrow & Company.
Rheingold, H. L., Gewirtz, J. L., & Ross, H. W. (1959). Social conditioning of vocalizations in the infant. Journal of Comparative and General Psychology, 52, 68–73.
Savage-Rumbaugh, E. S., Murphy, J., Sevcik, R. A., Brakke, K. E., Williams., S. L., & Rumbaugh, D. M. (1993). Language comprehension in ape and child. Monographs for the Society for Research in Child Development, 58, 1–256.
Schlinger, H. D., Jr. (1995). The behavior-analytic view of child development. New York: Plenum Press.
Skinner, B. F. (1935). The generic nature of the concepts of stimulus and response. Journal of General Psychology, 12, 40–65.
Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts,
Slobin, D. I. (1979). Psycholinguistics. Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman and Company.
Spradlin, J. E. (1966). Environmental factors and the language development of retarded children. In S. Rosenberg (Ed.), Developments in applied psycholinguist research, (261–290). Riverside, NJ: The MacMillan Company.
Staats, A. W., & Staats, C. K. (1963). Complex human behavior: A systematic extension of learning principles. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Vaughan, M. E., & Michael, J. L. (1982). Automatic reinforcement: An important but ignored concept. Behaviorism 10, 217–227.
Whitehurst, G. J., & Vasta, R. (1975). Is language acquired through imitation? Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 1975, 4, 37–58.
Wolff, P. H. (1969). The natural history of crying and other vocalizations in early infancy. In B. M. Foss (Ed.), Determinants of infant behavior (Vol. 4). London: Methuen.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sundberg, M.L., Michael, J., Partington, J.W. et al. The role of automatic reinforcement in early language acquisition. Analysis Verbal Behav 13, 21–37 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392904
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392904