GENERALIZATION AND TRANSFER IN MENTAL RETARDATION

我们提出了一个五年的努力，以扩大行为的限制， 智力迟钝者和其他残疾人的教学方法 严重的学习困难。这些人通常有 沟通技巧的限制，使他们难以或不可能 用传统的教学方法来教学。特殊教育 为安置这些人做好准备的目标， 参与社区，而不是机构或其他 特殊设置。然而，在特殊教育环境中获得的技能 只有当它们泛化或转移到其他 环境.令人遗憾的是，这种技能往往是在狭隘的 刺激控制，也就是说，这些技能不显示以外的 他们被教导的情况。 我们提出的项目将研究的问题，推广和转移， 一个更广泛的计划，寻求应用计算机技术的背景下， 教授基本的阅读技能， 中度智力残疾。在已经完成的研究中，我们 开发了一种有效的方法， 匹配、命名和写作技能的综合网络。我们的研究 程序及其一般方法提供了一个自然的框架， 研究泛化和迁移问题。很显然， 通过计算机教学获得的基本阅读和相关技能 除非它们转移到其他设置，否则不起作用。我们拿一本小说 刺激类的实验方法分析的问题， 泛化和迁移。刺激类是一组刺激， 在控制行为方面功能等同。功能 可能导致等效，因为（a）刺激共享物理 特性，并且因此在相同的特征刺激类中（例如， 印刷的单词停止和停止成为班级成员）或（B）训练 建立任意的刺激关系（例如，在口语和书面语之间 单词“STOP”和STOP，其产生任意刺激类。类似 先前的概念分析，我们的方法表明， 要素类构成了跨情境 迁移和泛化。然而，我们分析的独特之处在于， 强调要素类与任意类之间的关系 这促进了刺激控制在不同情况下的转移。的 这里提出的研究开始系统地探讨影响， 我们的刺激类模型的参数。

We propose a five-year effort to extend the limits of behavioral methodology for teaching individuals with mental retardation and other severe learning difficulties. These individuals typically have communication skill limitations that render them difficult or impossible to teach with traditional methods of instruction. Special education has the goal of preparing these individuals for placement and increased participation in the community, rather than in institutions or other special settings. However, skills acquired in special education settings are broadly useful only if they generalize or transfer to other environments. Regrettably, such skills are frequently under narrow stimulus control, that is, those skills are not displayed outside the situations in which they were taught. Our proposed project will study problems of generalization and transfer in the context of a broader program that seeks to apply computer technology to teach rudimentary reading skills to individuals with severe and moderate intellectual disabilities. In research already accomplished, we have developed an effective methodology for engendering complex, integrated networks of matching, naming, and writing skills. Our research program and its general methodology provide a natural framework within which to study problems of generalization and transfer. Clearly, rudimentary reading and related skills acquired via computer teaching will not be functional unless they transfer to other settings. We take a novel stimulus-class approach for the experimental analysis of the problems of generalization and transfer. A stimulus class is a set of stimuli that are functionally equivalent in their control of behavior. The functional equivalence may result because (a) the stimuli share physical characteristics, and hence are in the same feature stimulus class (e.g., printed words stop and stop being class-members)or (b) training establishes arbitrary stimulus relations (e.g., between spoken and printed words "STOP" and STOP which yield an arbitrary stimulus class. Resembling prior conceptual analyses, our approach suggests that the formation of feature classes constitutes an important basis for cross-situational transfer and generalization. Unique to our analysis, however, is an emphasis on relationships between feature classes and arbitrary classes which foster the transfer of stimulus control across situations. The studies proposed here begin to explore systematically implications and parameters of our stimulus class model.