Time delay in the acquisition of verbal correspondence in adults: An exploratory study

Resumo

Say-Do correspondence is typically defined as individuals’ doing what they said they would do and accurately reporting what they did. The present study evaluated the effects of the delay between responses of verbal correspondence (Say, Do, Report) and the relation among responses (Say-Do, Do-Report, Say-Report, and Say-Do-Report) in a correspondence procedure. Eight adults were assigned to one of two groups that were differentiated by the delay among responses: Non-Delayed group (i.e., 0 hours among responses), Delayed group (i.e., 24 hours among responses). The correspondence task consisted of three phases: (1) Say (answering questions), (2) Do (performing different actions in relation to Say), and (3) Report (answering questions about Do). The Delayed group presented lower percentages of correspondence, but no statistically significant differences were found between groups. We discuss the increase in value of the delay variable and relevance of this delay to matching in clinical contexts.

Keywords: Verbal correspondence; Say-Do; Do-Report; temporal delay; adults.