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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1998 Nov;70(3):321–324. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1998.70-321

Do parakeets exhibit derived stimulus control? Some thoughts on experimental control procedures.

K J Saunders 1, D C Williams 1
PMCID: PMC1284686  PMID: 9821682

Abstract

Breaking new ground in the study of emergent stimulus control in nonverbal subjects may require innovation in procedures. A recent study of parakeets is exemplary. This study used intricate procedures for maintaining test-trial performance without differential reinforcement of the target emergent performance. Also, it used successive simple discrimination procedures, which are rare in such studies. Given the importance of these innovations and the outcomes that they produced, we suggest additional control procedures that would rule out the possibility of adventitious reinforcement of the test-trial performances.

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Selected References

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