Stimulus overselectivity in TMR children: Establishing functional control of simultaneous multiple stimuli

The present study investigated stimulus overselectivity in retarded children as a function of different procedures for guiding their attention to complex stimuli. Eight TMR children were trained to respond only to a single distinctive feature and to respond to all individual components of complex stimuli (Experiment I). After training, four children discriminated all relevant components and four did not. Three overselective subjects were then trained to attend to all relevant cues (Experiment II) via responding to all individual components and reconstructing the S+ in its absence. All children reconstructed the S+, but two responded only to one component during subsequent stimulus control tests. For these children the instructions and response requirements during stimulus control tests were changed (Experiment III). The instructions were similar to those used for training subjects to respond to all S+ components. Both children now responded to all components during the stimulus control tests. The results are discussed in terms of the understanding of the variables that influences stimulus overselectivity and the procedures for guiding the attention to all relevant cues.