We conducted an empirical examination of derived relational responding as a generalized operant and concurrently evaluated the validity and efficacy of program items contained in the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge - Equivalence (PEAK-E) curriculum. A first study utilized a multiple-baseline across-skills experimental arrangement to determine the efficacy of equivalence-based instruction guided by PEAK-E, replicated across 11 children with autism. A total of 33 individualized skills were taught, and the subsequent emergence of untrained relations was tested throughout the investigation. The mastery criterion was achieved for 29 of the 33 instructional targets. Additionally, for 3 participants, results were again replicated with a novel set of stimuli. A second study evaluated the degree to which multiple-exemplar equivalence-based instruction led to the emergence of derived relational responding as a generalized operant. The organized nature of the PEAK curriculum allowed the impact on derived relational responding to be compared to that produced by earlier PEAK models that are focused on the direct training of traditional verbal operants. PEAK-E instruction was introduced in a multiple-baseline design across two participants, with a third staying in a training baseline throughout. Increases in derived relational responding using novel, untrained stimuli were only observed when multiple-exemplar equivalence-based instruction was introduced. Taken together, these results provide support for derived relational responding as a generalized operant and demonstrate the utility of conducting larger scale evaluations of higher order behavioral phenomena in single-case experimental arrangements.

我们对派生的关系响应作为广义操作进行了实证检验，同时评估了促进高级知识的出现 - 等价（PEAK-E）课程中包含的项目的有效性和功效。第一项研究利用多基线跨技能实验安排来确定 PEAK-E 指导下的基于等效性的教学的有效性，该实验在 11 名自闭症儿童中进行了重复。总共教授了 33 项个性化技能，并在整个调查过程中测试了随后出现的未经训练的关系。 33 个教学目标中有 29 个达到了掌握标准。此外，对于 3 名参与者，结果再次通过一组新颖的刺激得到复制。第二项研究评估了基于多示例等价的教学导致派生关系响应作为广义操作出现的程度。 PEAK 课程的组织性使得对派生关系响应的影响可以与早期 PEAK 模型产生的影响进行比较，这些模型专注于传统言语操作的直接训练。 PEAK-E 指令是在两名参与者的多基线设计中引入的，其中第三名参与者始终处于训练基线中。仅当引入基于多示例等价的指令时，才观察到使用新颖的、未经训练的刺激所产生的关系响应的增加。总而言之，这些结果为派生关系响应作为广义操作提供了支持，并证明了在单例实验安排中对高阶行为现象进行更大规模评估的实用性。