B.20: Identify the role of multiple control in verbal behavior.
Free practice questions for this part of the BCBA, with an explanation for every option.
A child who has not eaten for several hours sees a plate of cookies on the counter and says "Cookie!" The best analysis of this response is that it is:
- A. An example of divergent multiple controlIncorrect. Divergent control is one variable controlling several different responses. Here several variables control one response.
- B. Multiply controlled, with both mand (MO) and tact (nonverbal stimulus) sourcesCorrect. One response controlled by more than one variable (an MO and a nonverbal SD) shows convergent multiple control, a mand-tact blend.
- C. A pure tact controlled only by the sight of the cookiesIncorrect. Food deprivation is an MO that also contributes. The response is not controlled by the cookie stimulus alone.
- D. A pure echoicIncorrect. No vocal model was given, so it cannot be echoic.
A teacher asks, "What animals live on a farm?" and a student answers, "Cow, pig, horse, chicken." The fact that one verbal stimulus evokes several different responses is best described as:
- A. An echoic chainIncorrect. The responses are not repetitions of a vocal model.
- B. Convergent multiple controlIncorrect. Convergent control is several variables affecting a single response.
- C. Divergent multiple controlCorrect. A single antecedent variable strengthening several different responses is divergent multiple control.
- D. An autocliticIncorrect. Autoclitics modify or qualify other verbal behavior (e.g., "I think"). They do not describe one stimulus evoking several responses.
On a hot afternoon at the park, a 5-year-old sees an ice cream truck parked nearby, and his father asks, "What do you want?" The child says "Ice cream!" The heat, the sight of the truck, and the father's question each add strength to the single response "ice cream." This is best described as:
- A. Divergent multiple controlDivergent multiple control is when one variable strengthens several different responses. Here several variables strengthen one response.
- B. Convergent multiple controlCorrect. When several variables (an MO, a nonverbal stimulus, and a verbal stimulus) together strengthen one verbal response, the response is under convergent multiple control.
- C. An autoclitic frameAn autoclitic is verbal behavior that modifies the listener's reaction to other verbal behavior, such as "I think." "Ice cream" is not autoclitic.
- D. A pure tactA pure tact is under the control of a nonverbal stimulus alone. Here the MO and the verbal question also control the response.