A little boy is playing with his toys in his room. Holding one of his stuffed animal dolls, he looks at it and says 'Zebra!' Which elementary verbal operant does this scenario most likely describe?

• A. Autoclitic
• B. Intraverbal
• C. Echoic
• D. Tact

Answer: (D)

Tacting is labeling or describing objects, events, or properties in the environment when the stimulus is nonverbal. Here, the boy sees a stuffed animal that resembles a zebra and says “Zebra!” The toy serves as the nonverbal cue, and the verbal response labels it, which is exactly what a tact does. The social acknowledgment or reinforcement that often follows labeling helps strengthen this response.

This isn’t an echoic response, because he’s not repeating something another person said; he’s naming what he sees in the environment. It’s not an intraverbal moment, since there’s no verbal prompt or social question guiding a verbal answer about a different topic. It’s not an autoclitic, which would involve modifying another verbal behavior (like adding qualifiers such as “I think” or “I want”).