The study had the objective of testing the verbal control of different instructions on checking responses. Two adult participants were instructed to separate four types of mixed seeds. An ABCA single-subject design was used in the presentation of the instructions. The results showed that instruction C with description of aversive consequences increased the frequency of checking the responses. Participant one showed an increase in relation to instruction B with autoclitic and participant two in relation to instruction A of the base line. In the reversion phase both participants reduced the frequency after the presentation of an instruction A without description of aversive consequences. The results suggest that instruction C that specifies the whole contingency established an aversive function for the non-effective separation responses.
checking responses; rule-governed behavior; autoclitic; obsessive-compulsive disorder
