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Metaphorical language is a type of non-literal language with multiple uses in communication. Despite its relevance, most studies about this topic have focused on measuring the performance of a variety of populations on this skill and relating it to biological substrates or other cognitive abilities and there are little or no published studies on procedures for training the creation of metaphorical expressions. The current study evaluated a multiple exemplar training procedure for training simple metaphorical expressions in 4 six-year-old participants. Results demonstrated that all participants acquired the skill and demonstrated generalization, suggesting that multiple exemplar training may be effective for teaching children to create simple metaphorical expressions (AU)

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The rising incidence of Alzheimer’s disease over the last few decades has led to it becoming considered a challenge for health and social care systems worldwide. Examining it from a psychological viewpoint, the benefits of approaching its study from a global perspective have been proposed, taking into consideration much more than the cognitive impairment by which it is characterized. There is growing interest in the non-cognitive symptoms (depressive, psychotic and disturbing and/or inappropriate behavior) observed in Alzheimer’s patients, especially considering that the limitations placed on the patients’ well-being are coupled with the impact on the tolerance levels of their caregivers with a consequent increase in burden and stress. The undeniable relevance of this situation has led to attempts being made to verify if this interest is reflected in proposals of preventative and therapeutic actions aimed at improving the quality of life for Alzheimer’s patients and their families. For this reason, we have reviewed publications relating to this field from specialized Spanish journals with the greatest impact on the IN-RECS (Impact Index of Spanish Social Science Journals), dated between 1990-2010. The results show that there are relatively few publications on Alzheimer’s and very few providing information regarding therapeutic actions of any kind, as if from a psychological perspective, there was very little to be said on the subject (AU)

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The ability to describe, assign and attribute certain mental states is referred to as Theory of Mind. This topic has been extensively studied in the field of autism, where deficits in social interaction skills that characterize this disorder are thought to be due to a lack of a Theory of Mind. However, there is also evidence that children with developmental disabilities have difficulties in solving tasks concerning the attribution of mental states. In this paper, we present two studies that have been conducted with young people with Down’s Syndrome and developmental delay with a task in which they should report the preferences of a character who is unknown to them in different situations. The results in the first study are variable, and it was difficult for participants to accurately report the preferred options of the character, even after watching that person choosing. However, all the participants in the second study were able to put themselves in the place of the character and accurately report on his/her preferences. The difference between the results in the two studies is analyzed in terms of the subject’s experience with the character and the prompts that ensure discrimination of the most relevant elements in the task (AU)

La habilidad de describir, asignar y atribuir estados mentales a otros y a uno mismo es referida como teoría de la mente. Esta temática ha sido estudiada, principalmente, en el ámbito de análisis del autismo, entendiendo que las carencias en interacción social características de este trastorno se explican por la ausencia de una teoría de la mente, llegándose a proponer este déficit como propio y específico del autismo. También se ha comprobado, en menor medida, que niños con retraso en su desarrollo presentan dificul- tades en tareas de atribución de estados mentales. Se presentan dos estudios en los que jóvenes con Síndrome de Down y retraso en el desarrollo deben informar en diferentes situaciones de cuáles creen que son las preferencias de un personaje desconocido para ellos. En el primer estudio los participantes presentan dificultades para informar correcta- mente de las preferencias del personaje, aún después de haberlo observado eligiendo. En el segundo estudio los participantes consiguen ponerse en el lugar del personaje e informar correctamente de sus preferencias. La diferencia entre estos resultados es analizada en términos de experiencia con el personaje y facilitación de la discriminación de éste y sus preferencias frente a las de los participantes (AU)

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The most acknowledged strategies for the treatment of disruptive behaviours are those that are based on direct contingency management. Other procedures allow the therapist, or educational agent, not to be present in the context in which the behavioural change has to take place: the say-do correspondence training procedures, which have proven effective across behaviours and populations. Nevertheless, there is surprisingly little evidence of the effectiveness of such procedures with populations presenting developmental disabilities. This study describes the implementation of say-do correspondence training to modify 5 disruptive behaviours present in 5 adult subjects diagnosed with Down's syndrome, showing very positive results. The advantages of using say-do correspondence training procedures in developmental disabilities are discussed.

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Las estrategias más reconocidas para el tratamiento de conductas perturbadoras suponen el manejo directo de contingencias. Otros procedimientos permiten prescindir del agente terapéutico o educativo en el contexto en que ha de producirse el cambio conductual: el entrenamiento en correspondencia decir-hacer; que se ha mostrado efectivo con diferentes temáticas y poblaciones, siendo escasos los informes referidos a personas con retraso en el desarrollo. Se presenta un estudio en el que, mediante el fortalecimiento de la clase funcional «correspondencia Decir-Hacer», se interviene con 5 conductas perturbadoras en 5 jóvenes con síndrome de Down y retraso en el desarrollo, alcanzándose los objetivos propuestos en todos los casos. Se discute la funcionalidad del procedimiento en el ámbito de la intervención en retraso en el desarrollo (AU)

The most acknowledged strategies for the treatment of disruptive behaviours are those that are based on direct contingency management. Other procedures allow the therapist, or educational agent, not to be present in the context in which the behavioural change has to take place: the say-do correspondence training procedures, which have proven effective across behaviours and populations. Nevertheless, there is surprisingly little evidence of the effectiveness of such procedures with populations presenting developmental disabilities. This study describes the implementation of say-do correspondence training to modify 5 disruptive behaviours present in 5 adult subjects diagnosed with Down’s syndrome, showing very positive results. The advantages of using say-do correspondence training procedures in developmental disabilities are discussed (AU)

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La complejidad de la tarea modelada y el tiempo de demora entre la observación del modelo y la imitación han sido consideradas variables de relevancia en el campo de estudio de la imitación, a la hora de poder dar razón del ajuste del comportamiento del observador con el comportamiento del modelo, detectándose cierta variabilidad en los datos y problemas metodológicos de diversa índole en el estudio de estas variables. En este estudio se evalúan cuatro condiciones imitativas definidas por el número de componentes de las tareas (simple versus compleja) y la demora entre la actuación del modelo y la conducta imitativa del observador (30 minutos versus 48 horas). Las condiciones fueron: simple-30 minutos, simple-48 horas, compleja-30 minutos, y compleja-48 horas. Cada condición fue evaluada con diez sujetos en cuatro tareas diferentes. Los resultados muestran un bajo nivel de imitación general, con más variabilidad en relación a la demora que a la complejidad de la tarea.Los resultados son discutidos de acuerdo a estudios anteriores, según el tipo de conducta de seguimiento de reglas implicada en las condiciones experimentales de imitación, y considerando la probable historia de los sujetos con cada tarea, así como la mayor o menor función discriminativa de los componentes relevantes de las tareas a imitar provista en las diferentes condiciones experimentales (AU)

Complexity of performances and delay-period has been considered as relevant variables when people behave according to the model’s behavior, however variability and methodological problems concerning these variables are involved in the research literature. The present study evaluates four imitative conditions depending of the number of components (differentiated as simple and complex) and the period between the implementation of the model’s behavior and the subject performance (30 minutes and 48 hours). Conditions were: simple-30 min., simple-48 hours, complex-30 min., and complex-48 hours. Each condition was implemented with ten subjects through four different tasks. Results show a low level of imitative behavior with more variability with respect to the delay-period than the type of performance. Results are discussed according to the type of rule-governed behavior involved in the experimental conditions and the probable history with each task, as well as according to a more or less discriminative function of the defined as relevant components in the four tasks (AU)

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Seis niños en edad preescolar veían a un modelo resolver una tarea. El modelo, además, instruía a cada niño en relación a resolver la misma tarea de manera diferente a como él lo hacia. Se seleccionaron dos tareas, una en la que un adulto actuaba como modelo-instructor (Llaves) y otra en el que era un niño quien actuaba como modelo-instructor (Figuras). Durante línea de base se observó la manera en que los niños resolvían la tarea. Todos los niños siguieron al modelo niño frente a hacer lo que el modelo les decía que hicieran. Lo mismo ocurrió cuando el modelo-instructor fue un adulto, aunque hubo variabilidad de respuesta en tres de los seis sujetos. Desde ahí, se manipularon experimentalmente las consecuencias dispuesta para la actuación del modelo y para la de los niños, desde no conseguir fichas por imitar hasta perder privilegios. El cambio de tendencia imitativa a la instruccional ocurrió en la última fase a través de dos operaciones.Una directa, aplicada a 5 niños, que consistió en guiar la respuesta instruida y reforzarla directamente, y otra, aplicada a una niña, en la que se estableció la discriminación del propio comportamiento en relación al del modelo. Los resultados se analizan desde una concepción de la imitación y el ajuste a reglas como clases instruccionales, haciendo hincapié en la historia de tales clases en relación a adultos y a otros niños y en relación a la historia experimental. (AU)

Six preschool children were exposed to a model resolving a task while the model him/herself instructed the child other way with respect to how resolve the problem. Two tasks were selected, one in which an adult was who modeled and who instructed (Llaves), and the other in which a child was who modeled and who instructed (Figuras). During baseline, all children did as the model instead as they were instructed to do by the model, however, some variability appeared in three children when the model-instructer was the adult. Different experimental conditions (as extinction and response cost) were manipulated in order to change the imitative pattern of responding, but it was not changed until that two operations were implemented. One operation applied to five children was to prompt and reinforce directly the instructed response. The other was only applied to one child and consisted on discriminating the own behavior with regard the model’s behavior. Results are discussed considering imitative and rules as instructional classes, enhancing the history of theses classes with regard to adults and other children, and with regard the reinforcing experimental history (AU)

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