Comparing Modified Structured Mix and Modified Counterbalanced Random Rotation procedures to teach auditory-visual conditional discriminations to neurotypical individuals

The study compared two procedures for teaching auditory-visual conditional discriminations (receptive labeling) using arbitrary stimuli to neurotypical adolescents and adults. A Modified Structured Mix (SM) procedure followed five steps entailing mass trials, intermixing, and random rotation. The Modified Counterbalanced Random Rotation (RR) procedure entailed training all stimuli randomly from onset. Participants were five neurotypical individuals between the ages of 16 and 43, who had no prior exposure to this type of training. An adapted alternating treatments design was used to compare the two conditions. Results indicate that all participants acquired the auditory-visual conditional discriminations in both conditions, but the Modified Counterbalanced Random Rotation procedure was more efficient. At 4 weeks and 6 weeks, maintenance probes for the Modified Counterbalanced Random Rotation condition were associated with better maintenance scores. Findings from the present study indicate that the Modified Counterbalanced Random Rotation procedure was more efficient in establishing auditory-visual conditional discriminations across all participants. Although, it should be noted that the Modified Counterbalanced Random Rotation procedure required fewer trials to mastery than the Modified Structured Mix procedure. These results contribute to findings from previous research including participants with autism, suggesting that the Modified Counterbalanced Random Rotation procedure was more efficient for participants with an advanced verbal repertoire.