The Relation Between Components of Naming and Conditioned Seeing

In two experiments, I tested for the presence of conditioned seeing as a measurable behavior, which was measured by participants' accuracy in drawing a stimulus, and how this behavior was related to the demonstration of the naming capability. In Experiment 1, participants demonstrated a correlation between drawing responses and speaker responses in a test for naming (i.e., incidental learning of language) (r(10) = .702, p less than .02). In Experiment 2, I tested for the effects of using a delayed phonemic response teaching intervention on the acquisition of the drawing responses. There were twelve participants in Experiment 1, six of whom then continued on to Experiment 2. In Experiment 2, I used a non-concurrent multiple probe across participants to test the effects of the phonemic response intervention on the numbers of correct listener, speaker, and drawing responses. The independent variable was the delayed phonemic response intervention to control for the presence of the names of the stimuli, which would be necessary for the demonstration of the speaker component of naming. Four of the six participants in Experiment 2 demonstrated both the acquisition of the speaker component of naming as well as the drawing responses as a function of the delayed phonemic response teaching intervention. All participants responded in one of three ways: 1) demonstrated both drawing responses and the speaker component of naming, 2) neither drawing responses nor the speaker component of naming or 3) drawing responses but not the speaker component of naming. There were no instances of the speaker component of naming without drawing responses. Results from Experiment 2 further supported the relation between these two variables suggesting the possibility that the drawing responses were a measure of conditioned seeing, and that the conditioned seeing behavior is related to the development of the naming repertoire as it pertains to visual object-name relations. Implications, limitations, and future avenues for research are discussed.