Learning tact verbal relations may present characteristics of emergence and maintenance different from learning textual relations. These differences arouse particular interest when the stimuli that control such verbal operant belong to the same equivalent class and the response topography is similar. The objective of this study was to investigate the role of reinforcing function of each of these relationships in the emergence of new relations. Initially, six students participated in the study. First, we taught, through matching-to-sample tasks, listener relations between dictated words and pictures, and between dictated words and printed words. After training, we tested equivalence relations, and the emergence of tact and textual relations which are considered speaker relations. Then, the participants were submitted to concurrent schedules of reinforcement to evaluate preference for tasks. The results showed indifference in preference for tasks, which is consistent with the establishment of equivalence relations and with the fact that participants show similar performance on tact and textual tests. The absence of preference can be observed because of the indifference in those operant reinforcing functions, but also, because of the vast and sophisticated verbal repertoire of the participants.
Emerging behavior; reinforcing function of stimuli; choice; preference; tact; textual
