Aprendizagem relacional em indivíduos surdos prélinguais : exclusão, equivalência de estímulos e superseletividade
Resumo
conventional verbal behavior may present significant delays on this task. The studies
reported in this dissertation investigated discriminative repertoires learning by such
individuals aiming at describing these processes, identifying difficulties and
contributing to the development of technologies of teaching. Chapter 1 experiment
assessed learning by exclusion of conditional discriminations between signs of LIBRAS
(Brazilian Sign Language) and pictures and probed for the emergence of speaker
repertoires. All participants learned new discriminations by exclusion. Signaling
emerged for some but not all participants after learning listener behavior by exclusion.
An idiosyncratic verbal repertoire acquired outside from the experimental setting seems
to have affected the performance of some participants. In Chapter 2, two experiments
evaluated the formation of equivalence classes between signs (set A), pictures (set B)
and printed Words (set C) in the same participants. In both experiments, all participants
learned the AB baseline relations, responded consistently on symmetry probes (BA) and
showed tact responses (BD). In the first experiment of Chapter 2, two out of three
participants learned CB baseline discriminations and showed the formation of stimulus
equivalence classes. One participant also correctly emitted signs in the presence of
printed words (CD). In the second experiment, all three participants learned AB and CB
baseline relations, taught with a multiple baseline design across three sets of three
words, and showed the formation of nine equivalence classes and the emergency of
signaling responses in the presence of printed words. Consistent with previous studies, a
rudimentary reading repertoire was taught to five participants via stimulus equivalence.
In addition, textual behavior has also emerged for four participants. Chapter 3
experiment aimed to evaluate the occurrence of restricted stimulus control topographies
in conditional discriminations learning between printed words and pictures and to
develop a procedure to establish adequate stimulus control. Six deaf children were
taught three sets of three CB discriminations and were tested for restricted stimulus
control. A constructed response matching-to-sample, adapted as a differential observing
response (CR-DOR), was used as a remediation procedure for participants who showed
overselectivity. CR-DOR was used alone or combined with an identity matching-tosample
task between printed words in which S- comparisons showed critical differences
in relation to S+. Restrict stimuli control occurred with five out of six participants after
they learned CB relations. The CR-DOR procedure, when used alone, was effective in
remediating overselectivity with most part of stimulus sets. Although, only the
combination of both types of remediation procedures was effective for four children
with the first stimulus set. Results showed the importance of evaluating stimulus control
topographies while teaching reading repertoires to deaf individuals and suggest that
teaching procedures should include such a procedure since the beginning. Taken
together, the three studies provided evidence about possible difficulties or potentials
these participants may face while acquiring some sorts of relational repertoires and
indicated directions for planning effective teaching procedures.