ABA glossary
Intraverbal
Definition
A verbal operant evoked by a verbal stimulus that has no point-to-point correspondence with the response, such as answering a question, finishing a song lyric, or replying in conversation.
In plain words
Intraverbals are responding to words with different words. "What do you sleep in?" "A bed." "Ready, set..." "Go!" "How are you?" "Good." The antecedent is verbal (spoken, signed, or written), and the response does not match it part by part, as an echoic would. Intraverbals are the building blocks of conversation, answering questions, and talking about things that are not present.
Example from a session
The RBT sings, "Twinkle, twinkle, little...," and Ana says "star." Later, with no pictures on the table, the RBT asks, "What do you eat with?" and Ana says "spoon." The RBT records both as correct intraverbals. If the RBT had held up a spoon and asked "What is this?", the spoon would be controlling Ana's answer, and the response would be scored as a tact instead.
For BCBA candidates and supervisors
Analysts usually build intraverbals after a learner has solid mands, tacts, and echoics, using transfer-of-stimulus-control procedures (for example, from a tact or echoic prompt to the verbal stimulus alone). They watch for rote responding, in which the learner answers one exact question but not variations, and teach with multiple exemplars and conditional discriminations (responding to "what" versus "where" questions). Intraverbal responses are often under multiple control, and analysts use that knowledge to design prompts and to interpret errors.
Often confused with echoic, tact
An echoic repeats the verbal stimulus with point-to-point correspondence ("Say ball" → "ball"); an intraverbal answers it with different words ("What do you kick?" → "ball"). A tact is controlled by a nonverbal stimulus that is present; an intraverbal is controlled by words alone.
Exam tip
Check two things: is the antecedent verbal, and does the response match it word for word? Verbal antecedent plus a different response means intraverbal. A spoken antecedent repeated in the same words means echoic.
Can you spot intraverbal in a scenario?
Practice BCBA B.19 with exam-style questions and instant feedback.