The Differential Outcomes Effect:
Teaching Verbal Operants
Michelle Olson, M.S, Mark Harvey, Ph.D, BCBA
Ansley Hodges, M.S., BCBA, Eb Blakely, Ph.D, BCBA-D
Florida Institute of Technology and QuestKids
Typical Procedure
“How old
are you?”
“How are
you?”
“8”
“Fine”
Preferred
Item
Preferred
Item
Differential Outcomes Procedure
Different reinforcers in a discrimination task,
correlated with each kind of response
Differential Outcomes Effect
Increase rate of acquisition and/or maintain
higher steady state performance
Lab Studies With Nonhumans:
Variety of discrimination Paradigms
Two Choice Discrimination Experiments
Two-Choice Procedure:
Correlated Outcomes
Light
Light
LEFT
Food
RIGHT
Water
Two-Choice Control Procedure:
Uncorrelated Outcomes
Light
Light
LEFT
RIGHT
.5 Food
.5 Water
.5 Food
.5 Water
Two-Choice Control Procedure:
Confound????
1. Two reinforcers
2. Correlated outcomes
Typical
Food Food
DOE
Food
Water
Human Application:
Correlated Outcomes
“How old
are you?”
“8”
Gummy
“How are
you?”
“Fine”
Music
Human Application:
Uncorrelated Outcomes
“How old
are you?”
“How are
you?”
“8”
“Fine”
.5 Music
.5 Gummy
.5 Music
.5 Gummy
Experiment 1: Extension to Verbal
Operants
• Two boys with autism – 8 and 5 years old
• QuestKids Academy –
Experiment 1 Design
• Alternating Treatments
• Dependent Variable:
– % correct of intraverbal responses
• Independent Variable:
– Correlated vs. Uncorrelated outcomes
Baseline Procedure
Response
4 Easy
Tasks
Target
Question
No
Response
15 sec.
ITI
General Treatment Procedure
Correct
Answer
4 Easy Tasks
Target
question
Wrong
Answer /
NR
Correction
Trial
Outcome
with
(15 sec ITI)
15 sec ITI
Intraverbal Tasks
Correlated Task
“What do you do
with a watch?”
“Tell time”
Gummy
“What do you
watch?”
“TV”
Music
Uncorrelated Task
“How old are
you?”
“8”
Gummy OR
Music
“How are
you?”
“Good”
Gummy OR
Music
Video
• Show video Clip
Santi: Intraverbals
Correlated Task
“How old are
you?”
“8”
Music
“How are
you?”
“Good”
Gummy
Uncorrelated Task
“What do you eat
for breakfast?”
“Toast, cereal”
“When do you
eat breakfast?”
“Morning”
Music OR Gummy
Music OR Gummy
Results
Experiment 1: Santi
BL
Maint
Tx
100
Correlated
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
Uncorrelated
10
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
Josh: Intraverbals
Correlated Task
“What’s your
first name?”
“Josh”
Music
“What’s your
last name?”
“Smith”
Gummy
Uncorrelated Task
“What’s something
you drink?”
“Milk, juice”
Music OR Gummy
“What’s something
you drink out of?”
“Glass, cup”
Music OR Gummy
Results
Experiment 1: Josh
BL
Maint
Tx
100
Decreased #
experimenters
90
80
Percent Correct
70
60
50
40
30
20
Uncorrelated
10
Correlated
0
1
3
5
7
9
11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55
Sessions
Experiment 2:
Extension to Intraverbals and Tacts
• Two different boys with autism both 8
years old
• QuestKids Academy –
Experiment 2
• Design:
– Alternating Treatments
– Multiple baseline across verbal operants
• Dependent Variable:
– % correct responses
– Note: 100% and 97%, IOA respectively
• Independent Variable:
– Correlated vs. Uncorrelated outcomes
Caliel: Tacts
Correlated Task
D + “What
letter?”
“D”
Gummy
D + “What
sound?”
“duh”
Music
Uncorrelated Task
B + “What
letter?”
“B”
Gummy OR
Music
B + “What
sound?”
“buh”
Gummy OR
Music
Caliel: Intraverbals
Correlated Task
“What do you do
with a watch?”
“Tell time”
Gummy
“What do you
watch?”
“TV”
Music
Uncorrelated Task
“How old are
you?”
“8”
Gummy OR
Music
“How are
you?”
“Fine, good”
Gummy OR
Music
Results
Experiment 2: Caliel
100
BL
Intraverbals
Tx
Maint
90
Percent Correct
80
70
Uncorrelated
Correlated
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
100
90
Percent Correct
80
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
Tacts
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
Sessions
Austin: Tacts
Correlated Task
B + “What
letter?”
“B”
Gummy
B+ “What
sound?”
“buh”
Music
Uncorrelated Task
D + “What
letter?”
“D”
Gummy OR
Music
D + “What
sound?”
“duh”
Gummy OR
Music
Austin: Intraverbals
Correlated Task
“What number do you
call when there’s an
emergency?”
“911”
Music
“When do you
call 911?”
“When
somebody’s
really hurt”
Chip
Uncorrelated Task
“What happens to
ice when it’s
heated?”
“It melts / turns to
water”
Chip OR Music
“What happens to
water when you put it
in the freezer?”
“It freezes / turns to
ice
Chip OR Music
Results
Percent Correct
Experiment 2: Austin
Tx
BL
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Maint
Tacts
Uncorrelated
Correlated
100
Intraverbals
90
Percent Correct
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
Sessions
Discussion of Austin
Why was uncorrelated more effective?
Correlated Task
“What number do you
call when there’s an
emergency?”
“911 when
somebody’s
really hurt”
Music
“When do you
call 911?”
“911 when
somebody’s
really hurt”
Chip
Summary of Results
Participant
Intraverbal
(DOE)
Tact
(DOE)
Santi
Josh
x
Caliel
Austin
x
x
Discussion
• DOE procedure has promise in
teaching verbal operants, especially
intraverbals
• Task difficulty critical element
• Use when traditional procedures don’t
work
Discussion
– Future Directions
• Intraverbals replications
• Recall / Comprehension (DTMS)
• Different ages / abilities
End
For this PowerPoint and references
Website: www.fitaba.com
Email: eblakely@questinc.org
Differential Outcomes Effect
Match-to-Sample
Traditional Discrimination Training
Assay: Match-to-sample
Food
Choice
stimuli
Sample
stimulus
Food
DOE Procedure
Food
Drink
Sample
stimulus
DOE Procedure
Food
Drink
Sample
stimulus
DOE Control Procedures
Uncorrelated
.5 Food/.5 Drink
Sample
stimulus
.5 Food/.5 Drink
Correlated
Food
Drink
Sample
stimulus
DOE Procedure: Application
Academic Tasks
Candy
Soda
A
B
SD: “Point to A”
SD: “Point to B”
DOE Procedure: Application
Recall Tasks
Candy
“Sandwich”
Soda
“My friend Will”
SD: “What did you
just eat?”
SD: “Who did you
just talk to?”
Exercises
 The DOE is an effect in which different _________ are
used for different ________ in a discrimination task.
 What is the proper control procedure in a DOE study?
 Pick a task that you are teaching, and design a DOE
procedure for it.