The Psychological Record

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-020-00425-y

BRIEF COMMUNICATION

Experimental Investigation of Metaphorical Extension:

A New Procedure
Filipe C. Carvalho 1 & Julio C. de Rose 1

# Association for Behavior Analysis International 2020

Abstract
This article describes a procedure to investigate metaphorical extension of tacts, and reports preliminary data. Six college students
learned to choose between four pseudo-words to tact four species (classes) of creature-like pictures. The defining properties
controlling the tacts (selections) were color and shape, but two of the species—Clai and Trax—had experimentally manipulated
adventitious properties (e.g., wings, hair) whereas the other species, Fite and Dag did not have these properties. In subsequent
phases, these adventitious properties were added either to the Fite or to the Dag, and standard tacts were punished with negative
feedback. Extension of the tacts "Clai" and "Trax" was observed to Fite and Dag pictures that appeared with the adventitious
properties previously associated with Clai or Trax pictures. These metaphorical extensions continued to occur in test phases
without differential consequences. These preliminary data show that the procedure has potential to simulate metaphorical
extension in the lab and to allow the experimental investigation of variables that affect this phenomenon.

Keywords Verbal behavior . Metaphorical extension . Metaphor . Tacts . Punishment

A tact is a verbal operant under discriminative control of "a par-
ticular object or event or property of an object or event" (Skinner,
1957, pp. 81-82). The verbal community establishes a repertoire
of tacts reinforcing specific responses (e.g., saying "chair" or
"green") in the presence of, respectively, a chair or a green object.
The verbal community typically provides or withholds re-
inforcement for tacts based on the presence of defining
This work was part of the research program of Instituto Nacional de
Ciência e Tecnologia sobre Comportamento, Cognição e Ensino
(National Institute of Science and Technology on Behavior, Cognition,
and Teaching), under the leadership of Deisy G. de Souza and supported
by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, Grant # 2014/50909-8)
and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
(CNPq, Grant # 465686/2014-1). Preparation of the manuscript was
supported by a doctoral scholarship to the first author, from Coordenação
de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior. The second author has
a research productivity grant from CNPq.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article
(https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-020-00425-y) contains supplementary
material, which is available to authorized users.
* Julio C. de Rose
julioderose@gmail.com
1
Departamento de Psicologia, Universidade Federal de São Carlos,
Caixa Postal 676, São Carlos, SP SP 13565-905, Brazil
(contingent) features: the tact "green" is reinforced only in
the presence of green stimuli. However, the contingent prop-
erty is always accompanied by adventitious properties that
"though present at reinforcement, do not enter into the contin-
gency respected by the verbal community" (Skinner, 1957, p.
92). In a metaphorical extension, the tact occurs in the absence
of the contingent property, under control by adventitious prop-
erties. The first time someone referred to a table's "leg," the
response was a metaphorical extension, controlled by adven-
titious properties of the table's "leg," i.e., its geometrical and
functional similarity to an animal's leg. As this response con-
tinued to occur and to be reinforced, it eventually became
itself a standard tact (see also Stewart & Barnes-Holmes,
2001, for a related but more complex account).
The behavior-analytic literature has many studies about
understanding metaphors (e.g., Lee, Xu, Zou, Gilic, & Lee,
2019) or how metaphors may have therapeutic effects on peo-
ple's behaviors (e.g., Criollo, Diaz-Muelle, Ruiz, and García-
Martín, 2018). Stewart and Barnes-Holmes (2001) noted,
however, the absence of studies on the production of meta-
phors. To our knowledge, such studies are still scarce (but see
Cortes, Cobos, & Tarbox, 2018).
To study experimentally a phenomenon it is important to
reduce its complexity, maintaining its essential features, and then
manipulate the occurrence of the phenomenon. To reduce the

complexity of metaphorical extension, we created an experimen-
tal "vocabulary" of four tacts, employing a procedure that has
been used to study analogues of tacting in pigeons (e.g., Epstein,
Lanza, & Skinner, 1980; Lubinsky & Thompson, 1987). In these
studies, pigeons tacted nonverbal stimuli by selecting a printed
stimulus in a matching-to-sample (MTS) task. Thus, in Epstein
et al., pigeons tacted colors by pecking a key with the initial letter
of the color's name in English. In the present study, tacts
consisted of selecting one of four written pseudo-words in the
presence of each of four creature-like sets of pictures (see Fig. 1).
The pictures had body and eyes, and could have some experi-
mentally created adventitious properties. As Skinner observed,
"pointing to words is verbal—as indeed is all pointing. . ."
(Skinner, 1957, p. 14). In the present task, therefore, pointing
may be considered a tact because a nonverbal stimulus controls
selection of the word pointed to, and stimulus control was
established by generalized reinforcement.
Fig. 1 Configuration of the
classes of creature-like pictures
presented in each phase
Psychol Rec
We manipulated a variable expected to increase the proba-
bility of metaphorical extension: punishment of standard tacts
(see Discussion, below). We expected that punishment would
displace control, producing tacts controlled by the adventi-
tious properties.
A previous study with an earlier version of this procedure
has been submitted to a local journal and is still under review.
The present version of the procedure added additional con-
trols, and we present data obtained with six participants.
Method
Participants
Six college students, native speakers of Portuguese, participated.
Psychol Rec
Setting, Equipment, and Stimuli
An Acer laptop computer equipped with the software
Contingência Programada (Hanna, Batitucci, & Batitucci,
2014) presented MTS trials and recorded responses.
Sessions occurred in a small laboratory room.
Stimuli were creature-like pictures and their respec-
tive printed names. Four creature-like "species" were
defined by body shape and color: the Clai were green
triangles, the Fite were red squares, the Trax were yel-
low circles, and the Dag were purple diamonds. Pictures
were always samples and printed names (font Arial 35)
always comparisons.
There were three variants of Clai and three of Trax, differ-
ing in adventitious features. In all phases, each Clai had either
antennae, smoke, or wings (all black); each Trax had either
drops and puddle, hair, or rays (all blue). The Fite and Dag
appeared in some phases without these features and in other
phases they had one of them.
Procedure
MTS Task Trials began with the presentation of a sample
(picture of a member of one of the four species) on the
center of the screen. A click on the sample produced
the immediate presentation of four comparisons on the
screen's corners, the names "Clai," "Fite," "Trax," and
"Dag." The sequence of samples was randomized, with
the restriction that the same stimulus did not appear as
sample in consecutive trials. Comparisons also appeared
in randomized positions.
Phase 1: Tact training Selections of the standard name for each
picture produced a display of colored stars. A white screen
followed any other choice. Trial blocks had 24 trials, 6 with
each species as sample. In this Phase, the Fite and Dag pic-
tures had none of the experimental adventitious properties,
whereas each Clai and Trax had one of the adventitious prop-
erties. Criterion to end this Phase was 100% correct choices in
a block.
Phase 2: Punishment of tact "Fite" This Phase comprised 60
trials. Each Fite now had one of the six experimental adventi-
tious properties. Selections of "Fite" in the presence of a Fite
picture produced a red alert symbol and a buzz (presumably
aversive). There were 30 Fite trials and 10 with each of the
other samples. Stars followed the other standard tacts and a
white screen followed other responses.
Phase 3: Punishment of tact "Dag" This Phase was similar to
Phase 2, with the difference that now the Dag pictures ap-
peared with the adventitious properties, and punishment
followed standard tacts of "Dag."
Phase 4: Fite test In this Phase each Fite had one of the six
experimental adventitious properties, and the Dag had none of
them. The only programmed consequence for selections was
advancing to the next trial. There were 24 trials, 6 with each
species.
Phase 5: Dag test Similar to Phase 4 but now each Dag had
one of the experimental adventitious properties, whereas the
Fite had none.
Results
This brief report focuses only on the frequency of metaphor-
ical extensions. Supplemental material presents cumulative
records for all participants in all phases.
The critical trials were those with samples Fite or Dag, with
added adventitious properties initially associated with Clai
(black features) or Trax (blue features).
We categorized three types of responses in trials with ad-
ventitious features added to samples Fite or Dag: 1) Standard
tacts were selections based on the defining properties: red
square—> "Fite ," purple d iamond — > " Da g." 2)
Metaphorical extensions were selections of "Clai" or "Trax"
consistently with the adventitious, rather than the defining
properties, i.e., black features—> "Clai," blue features—>
"Trax." 3) All other selections, consistent with neither defin-
ing nor adventitious features, were called errors: percentage
of errors was much lower than that of metaphorical exten-
sions. Most errors were choices of "Trax" in the presence of
Fite or Dag with black adventitious features, or choices of
"Clai" in the presence of Fite or Dag with blue adventitious
features.
Figure 2 presents the percentage of metaphorical exten-
sions for Fite in Phases 2 and 4, and for Dag in Phases 3 and
5. P1, P2, P3, and P6 showed a high percentage of metaphor-
ical extensions in all these phases. P5 showed a lower percent-
age of metaphorical extensions in Phase 2, with sharp increase
in subsequent phases. P4 showed a much lower percentage of
metaphorical extensions and these occurred mostly in Phases
2 and 3, when standard tacts were punished.
Discussion
Selection of a Printed Word is a Tact?
The present procedure may be defended as a model of meta-
phorical extension to the extent that selections in our MTS
task may be considered as tacts. Pointing is always verbal, in
accordance with Skinner's definition of verbal behavior. In the
present task, the antecedent stimulus is nonverbal (a picture),
the response is verbal (pointing) and is under discriminative

Fig. 2 Percentage of metaphorical extensions in the presence of samples Fite and Dag
control of the defining features of each species. The discrim-
ination was established by generalized reinforcement. The be-
havior fits, therefore, the definition of a tact (Skinner, 1957).
We may consider pointing, in this case, as functionally equiv-
alent to saying the picture's name. A similar procedure has
been used as a model of tacting in pigeons. Epstein et al.
(1980) made pigeons tact colors by pecking keys with the
color's initial letter, and Lubinsky and Thompson (1987)
employed a similar task to generate tacts for drug-induced
interoceptive states.
Once a "vocabulary" of tacts was established, manip-
ulation of adventitious features, together with a
punishing contingency, established the occasion for an
analogue of metaphor. This interpretation is warranted
because when standard tacts "Fite" or "Dag" were
punished, control was exerted by features that accompa-
nied the Clai and Trax pictures, but were adventitious,
because reinforcement was not contingent on the pres-
ence of those properties. Control by the adventitious fea-
tures is evidenced by the near exclusive choice of "Clai"
for Fite and Dag pictures with black antennae, smoke, or
Psychol Rec
wings, and of "Trax" for Fite and Dag pictures with
drops and puddle, hair, or rays.
When metaphorical extensions occur in everyday verbal
behavior the adventitious properties that controlled emission
of the tact must be inferred. It is impossible, for instance, to
vary features of stimuli to determine the precise control over
metaphors produced by a poet. Deliberate construction of ad-
ventitious features in the present experiment allows this kind
of test. For instance, it is not possible to determine whether the
properties that controlled the extended tact "Clai" were anten-
nae, smoke, and wings or the black color (or some combina-
tion of these). This could be determined with additional test-
ing. For instance, antennae, smoke, and wings could be pre-
sented in blue color. Or new features (such as, for instance, tie
or beard), could be presented in blue or black color.
Punishment as a Variable Increasing Probability of
Metaphor
Effects of punishment on verbal behavior are analyzed in
many points of Skinner's book Verbal Behavior (Skinner,
Psychol Rec
1957). Skinner suggests that punishment may result in dis-
guised responses, in forms such as euphemism, slang, or met-
aphor. Discussing several such forms of evasion from punish-
ment, Skinner points out that "it is only a short step to the use
of metaphor or symbolism—a device studied in great detail by
Freud. In general, symbolic behavior lacks the punishable
properties of the unsymbolic counterpart but retains properties
which are positively reinforcing" (Skinner, 1957, p. 377).
Agbota, Sandaker, and Ree (2015) investigated the role of
metaphor in the evasion from punishment for a specific kind
of punishable behavior, offering or accepting bribes. Using
metaphors, such as "water the ground" may hide the illegal
aspect of the behavior and avoid aversive consequences that
might result from more direct language that could embarrass
or offend the listener.
It is interesting that Agbota et al. (2015) list several com-
mon metaphors for corrupt behavior. A corrupt officer may
have been reinforced several times by saying "water the
ground" and the expression is still considered to be a meta-
phor. In poetry, on the other hand, metaphors become worn
out after very few usages. Calling something a metaphor is an
abstract tact, and the defining features for this tact may have
some variations for different verbal communities. The first
instance a Fite picture with wings was tacted as "Clai" fits
Skinner's definition of metaphorical extension. These selec-
tions avoided punishment and were, therefore, negatively re-
inforced. After how many reinforcements they would cease to
be a metaphor is debatable.
Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research
The present pilot study has several limitations. For instance,
although not likely, the mere presentation of Fite or Dag with
adventitious properties of the other species could have pro-
duced metaphorical extensions. Further studies should add
adventitious features to these stimuli before the onset of tact
punishment. A more sophisticated design, such as a multiple
baseline, would also enhance experimental control.
A second limitation is that extensions in the present study
were to stimuli with identical adventitious properties: the tact
"Clai," for instance, was extended to Fite pictures with iden-
tical black antennae, smoke, or wings. Most metaphors, how-
ever, involve abstraction of a physical property (Skinner,
1989; Smeets & Barnes-Holmes, 2001): the silent and furtive
movement of a man controlling the extended tact "mouse" is
not identical to the silent and furtive movement of a mouse, so
the mouse-like quality of the man's movement is an abstract
feature.
Nevertheless, the procedure allowed the production of this
simple form of metaphorical extension in experimentally con-
trolled conditions. It made possible the investigation of effects
of a specific variable, tact punishment, over the production of
metaphorical extension. Punishment is a variable that has been
suggested to increase the probability of extended tacts
(Skinner, 1957). In these cases, metaphors may function as
avoidance responses, as shown, for instance, by Agbota
et al. (2015).
The present procedure allows investigation of other vari-
ables that may influence metaphorical extension, such as, for
instance, novelty of stimuli. It would be possible to present a
novel, "unknown" stimulus, containing adventitious features
associated with already established tacts. The adventitious
properties in the novel stimuli could be nonidentical to the
adventitious properties of standard tacts, to investigate more
complex metaphorical extensions. For instance, in a subse-
quent phase of the present experiment, a new shape and color
combination, such as a light blue tall rectangle, could have a
blue tie, or airplane wings. Choices of "Trax" in the first case,
and "Clai" in the second, would exemplify metaphorical ex-
tensions involving abstraction. The procedure could also be
used to investigate metaphorical extension with populations
that have difficulty understanding and producing metaphors,
such as individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Compliance with Ethical Standards
Conflict of Interest On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author
states that there is no conflict of interest.
Ethical Approval All procedures performed in studies involving human
participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institu-
tional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki
declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed Consent Informed consent was obtained from all individual
participants included in the study.
Availability of Data and Materials Online supplementary material is
provided with this manuscript. This material contains trial-by-trial data
for responses to the critical stimuli in all phases, and for all participants.
References
Agbota, T. K., Sandaker, I., & Ree, G. (2015). Verbal operants of cor-
ruption: A study of avoidance. Behavior & Social Issues, 24, 141–
163. https://doi.org/10.5210/bsi.v.24i0.5864.
Criollo, A. B., Diaz-Muelle, S., Ruiz, F. J., & García-Martín, M. (2018).
Common physical properties improve metaphor effect even in the
context of multiple examples. The Psychological Record, 68, 513–
523. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-018-0297-9.
Epstein, R., Lanza, R. P., & Skinner, B. F. (1980). Symbolic communi-
cation between two pigeons (Columa livia domestica). Science, 207,
543–545. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.207.4430.543.
Hanna, E. S., Batitucci, L., & Batitucci, J. (2014). Software Contingência
Programada: Utilidades e funcionalidades [Contingência
Programada software: Utilities and functionalities]. Revista
Brasileira de Análise do Comportamento, 10, 97–104.
Lee, G. T., Xu, S., Zou, H., Gilic, L., & Lee, M. W. (2019). Teaching
children with autism to understand metaphors. The Psychological
Record, 69, 449–512. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-019-00355-4.
 Psychol Rec

Lubinsky, D., & Thompson, T. (1987). An animal model of the interper- Skinner, B. F. (1989). Recent issues in the analysis of behavior.
sonal communication of interoceptive (private) states. Journal of the Columbus, OH: Merrill.
Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 48, 1–15. https://doi.org/10. Stewart, I., & Barnes-Holmes, D. (2001). Understanding metaphor: A
1901/jeab.1987.48-1. relational frame perspective. The Behavior Analyst, 24, 191–199.
Ramón-Cortés, A. I., Molina-Cobos, F. J., & Tarbox, J. (2018). Teaching
children to create metaphorical expressions. International Journal of
Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdic-
Psychology & Psychological Therapy, 18, 27–38.
tional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice
Hall.