Richard Serna, Ph.D.

Faculty Appointment(s) In:
   Psychiatry

Other Affiliation(s):
   Shriver Center

Processes in Discrimination Learning

Many individuals with intellectual disabilities have language deficits that make them difficult or impossible to evaluate and teach with the predominantly verbal methods common in special education settings. Solutions to this and related problems must be found in order to obtain positive teaching outcomes. One approach to these problems is to explore alternatives to verbal instructions for establishing desired forms of stimulus control. Dr. Serna investigates basic processes in discrimination learning with individuals who have severe intellectual disabilities and learning problems. His research also asks how such processes can be applied to individuals who fail to learn through traditional verbal and nonverbal discrimination training procedures. Ongoing projects include: (1) applications of relational learning research to new methods for establishing identity matching to sample; (2) an investigation of basic processes in stimulus control transfer, including studies that utilize eye-trackingtechnology; and (3) studies that examine the variables that influence the acquisition of auditory stimulus control.

Ongoing Projects

Representative Publications

Serna, R. W., & Perez-Gonzalez. L. A. (in press). Generalized contextual control of conditional discriminations and unreinforced conditional selection. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Serna, R. W., Kledaras, J. B., Stoddard, L. T., & McIlvane, W. J. (in press). Assessing readiness of individuals with severe intellectual disabilities for computer-assisted instruction and behavioral evaluation. Tiempes de Psicologia.

McIlvane, W. J., Serna, R. W., Dube, W. V., & Stromer, R. L. (1998). Stimulus control topography coherence and stimulus equivalence: Reconciling test outcomes with theory. In J. Leslie & D. E. Blackman (eds.) Issues in experimental and applied analyses of human behavior. Context Press: Reno.

Serna, R. W., Oross, S., & Murphy, N. A. (1998). Nonverbal assessment of line-orientation in individuals with mental retardation. The Experimental Analysis of Human Behavior Bulletin.

Dube, W. V. & Serna, R. W. (1998). Reevaluation of a programmed method to teach generalized identity matching. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 19, 347-379.

Serna, R. W., Wilkinson, K. M., & McIlvane, W. J. (1998). Blank-comparison assessment of stimulus-stimulus relations in individuals with mental retardation. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 103, 60-74.

Mackay, H. A., Stromer, R., & Serna, R. W. (1998). Emergent behavior and intellectual functioning: Stimulus classes, generalization and transfer. In S. A. Soraci & W. J. McIlvane (Eds.), Perspectives on Fundamental Processes in Intellectual Functioning: A Survey of Research Approaches (Vol. 1, pp. 287-310). Greenwich, CT: Ablex Publishing Corporation.

Serna, R. W., Dube, W. V., & McIlvane, W. J. (1997). Assessing same/different judgments in individuals with severe intellectual disabilities: A status report. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 18, 343-368.

Serna, R. W., Jeffery, J. A., & Stoddard, L. T. (1996) Establishing go-left/go-right auditory discrimination baselines in an individual with severe mental retardation. The Experimental Analysis of Human Behavior Bulletin, 14, 18-23.

McIlvane, W. J., Dube, W. V., & Serna, R. W. (1996). Analysis of behavioral selection by consequences and its potential contributions to understanding brain-behavior relations. In K. H. Pribham & J. S. King (Eds.), Learning as self organization (pp. 77-100). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Stoddard, L. T., Serna, R. W., & McIlvane, W. J. (1994). A note on stimulus control shaping and one-trial learning in two- and three-year-old children. Psychological Record, 44, 289-299.

Soraci, S.A., Stoddard, L.T., Serna, R.W., McIlvane, W.J., & Carlin, M.T. (1994). Auditory spatial location in auditory-visual matching to sample: A preliminary investigation. Experimental Analysis of Human Behavior Bulletin, 12, 14-16.

Dube, W. V., Green, G., Serna, R. W. (1993). Auditory successive conditional discrimination and auditory stimulus equivalence classes. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 59, 103-114.

Serna, R. W. & Osborne, J. G. (1993). Free-time as a behavioral consequence in classroom settings: A critical review. Journal of Behavioral Education, 3, 165-186.

Stromer, R., McIlvane, W. J., & Serna, R. W. (1993). Complex stimulus control and equivalence. Psychological Record, 43, 585-598.

Serna, R.W., Stoddard, L.T., & McIlvane, W.J. (1992). Developing auditory stimulus control: A note on methodology. Journal of Behavioral Education, 2, 391-403.

Academic Background

B.A., University of New Mexico, 1980
Ph.D., Utah State University, 1986

Current appointments:

Associate Scientist, Psychological Sciences Division, Shriver Center
Associate Psychologist, University Affiliated Program, Shriver Center
Clinical Associate Professor, Bouve College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Northeastern University
Board of Editors, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
Board of Editors, The Behavior Analyst
Board of Editors, Experimental Analysis of Human Behavior Bulletin

Office: Shriver
Phone: 781-642-0027
E-mail: Richard.Serna@umassmed.edu

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