ABA Exam Coach

B.21: Identify examples of processes that promote emergent relations and generative performance.

Free practice questions for this part of the BCBA, with an explanation for every option.

A learner is taught to match the spoken word "cat" (A) to a picture of a cat (B), and to match the picture of a cat (B) to the printed word CAT (C). Without further training, she matches the printed word CAT (C) to the spoken word "cat" (A). This untrained C→A relation demonstrates:
  1. A. Reflexivity
    Incorrect. Reflexivity is matching a stimulus to itself (A→A), not to a different stimulus.
  2. B. Symmetry
    Incorrect. Symmetry is reversing one trained relation (e.g., B→A). C→A reverses a derived relation.
  3. C. Transitivity
    Incorrect. Transitivity would be A→C. C→A requires both transitivity and symmetry.
  4. D. Equivalence (combined symmetry and transitivity)
    Correct. C→A is the reversed transitive relation, which is the combined test for stimulus equivalence.
Using a matrix, a speech-language team teaches a child to say "push car" and "roll ball." During probes, the child correctly says "push ball" and "roll car," which were never taught. This generative performance is best described as:
  1. A. Response maintenance
    Incorrect. Maintenance is the persistence of trained responses over time, not the appearance of new combinations.
  2. B. Recombinative generalization
    Correct. Recombining trained parts into new, untrained combinations is recombinative generalization, a process that supports generative performance.
  3. C. Echoic responding
    Incorrect. No vocal model of "push ball" was given.
  4. D. Stimulus overselectivity
    Incorrect. Overselectivity is restricted control by a limited stimulus feature. Here the child responds correctly to new combinations.
An adult recovering from a brain injury is relearning money skills. She is taught to select a quarter from an array of coins when shown a card printed "25¢." Without further training, she selects the "25¢" card from an array of price cards when shown a quarter. Which emergent relation does this show?
  1. A. Reflexivity
    Reflexivity is matching a stimulus to itself (for example, a quarter to an identical quarter). She is matching different stimuli.
  2. B. Transitivity
    Transitivity requires two trained relations that share a stimulus (A→B and B→C) to produce an untrained A→C relation. Only one relation was trained here.
  3. C. Symmetry
    Correct. After training "25¢" → quarter (A→B), the reverse relation, quarter → "25¢" (B→A), emerged without training. That is symmetry.
  4. D. Response generalization
    Response generalization involves new response forms. Here an untrained stimulus–stimulus relation has emerged.

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