Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, Vol 23(3), Aug 2023, 179-194; doi:10.1037/bar0000272
A differential observing response (DOR) is a behavioral requirement that verifies the discrimination of stimulus features that differ across relevant stimuli (Farber et al., 2017). The objective of this article is to identify procedures described in the current literature that function as DORs and to consider the utility of the DOR in discrimination learning. Procedures that function as DORs were categorized into one of the following DOR types: tacting, manual signing, echoic, text based, and identity matching. The use of DORs in the applied literature has served the following purposes: (a) to teach discrimination tasks, (b) to remediate ineffective teaching procedures, or (c) to augment observing and attending in a more complex target task by requiring a discriminative response in relation to the relevant features. DORs have been effective in teaching matching to sample, sorting, following instructions, and answering questions. Recommendations on variables to consider when incorporating DORs into educational settings are provided. Future research on DORs should examine novel applications, carry out comparative analyses, evaluate sustained progress after the removal of the DOR, incorporate DORs into daily life, and evaluate the inclusion of DORs when using multiple schedules. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)