Naming: What do we know so far? A systematic review

Although the term naming is used colloquially in the English language, it refers to a specific instance of verbal behavior within behavior analysis. Since Horne and Lowe’s (Horne & Lowe, 1996) seminal account on naming, the concept continues to generate clinical and research interest to-date. We conducted a systematic search of the behavior analytic studies on naming to highlight the methods that were used to test naming, the terminology that have been adopted, the conceptual underpinnings, and the methods used to train naming if it was found to be absent. Forty-six studies met inclusion criteria and we conducted a descriptive analysis of these studies. We found that most studies either used the terms naming or bidirectional naming. We found wide variation in the methods used to test and train naming. Nearly one third of these studies attempted to offer evidence that naming facilitated some other type of behavior, and the remaining studies attempted to train naming in individuals when the behavior was found to be absent. Overall, our review highlighted that there exists a rich empirical dataset on testing and training naming within behavior analysis, and we discussed specific areas for future research

Reducing face touching through haptic feedback: A treatment evaluation against fomite‐mediated self‐infection

Fomite‐mediated self‐infection via face touching is an understudied transmission pathway for infectious diseases. We evaluated the effect of computer‐mediated vibrotactile cues (presented through experimental bracelets located on one or both hands of the participant) on the frequency of face touching among eight healthy adults in the community. We conducted a treatment evaluation totaling over 25,000 min of video observation. The treatment was evaluated through a multiple‐treatment design and hierarchical linear modeling. The one‐bracelet intervention did not produce significantly lower levels of face touching across both hands, whereas the two‐bracelet intervention did result in significantly lower face touching. The effect increased over repeated presentations of the two‐bracelet intervention, with the second implementation producing, on average, 31 fewer face‐touching percentual points relative to baseline levels. Dependent on the dynamics of fomite‐mediated self‐infection via face touching, treatment effects could be of public health significance. The implications for research and practice are discussed

Social referencing skills in children with autism spectrum disorder : a systematic review

Backgrounth Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit severe and persistent deficits in social behaviors. An area of socialization that develops towards the end of the first year of life is social referencing, wherein infants when confronted with a new or unusual event, look at an adult, and base their subsequent behavior on the facial expression of the adult. Method: We undertook a systematic review to highlight the existing conceptualizations of social referencing, and study the social referencing repertoire in children with ASD. We searched five databases for studies published until December 2018. Articles included reported behavioral measures of social referencing and were specific to individuals with ASD or those at elevated risk for ASD. Results: Of the 54 articles meeting eligibility for full-text review, eight met inclusion criteria and the data were synthesized narratively. Deficits in social referencing were reported in seven studies, and data from all studies indicated atypical attention shifts between social and non-social stimuli in children with ASD. Conclusions: A deficiency exists in spontaneous looking behaviors and possibly in differential responding to affective cues among children with ASD. The variations in the definitions and measurement methods present in the literature call for additional research that examines both referential looking and differential cue responding components within an ambiguous context. Guidelines for future research and clinical implications are discussed

Verbal behavior development theory and relational frame theory: reflecting upon similarities and differences

Relational frame theory and verbal behavior development theory are two behavior-analytic perspectives on human language and cognition. Despite sharing reliance on Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior, relational frame theory and verbal behavior development theory have largely been developed independently, with initial applications in clinical psychology and education/development, respectively. The overarching goal of the current paper is to provide an overview of both theories and explore points of contact that have been highlighted by conceptual developments in both fields. Verbal behavior development theory research has identified how behavioral developmental cusps make it possible for children to learn language incidentally. Recent developments in relational frame theory have outlined the dynamic variables involved across the levels and dimensions of arbitrarily applicable relational responding, and we argue for the concept of mutually entailed orienting as an act of human cooperation that drives arbitrarily applicable relational responding. Together these theories address early language development and children's incidental learning of names. We present broad similarities between the two approaches in the types of functional analyses they generate and discuss areas for future research