When a learner breaks down a complex chain into smaller discrete steps and the completion of the previous step serves as the reinforcer for the next step and the discriminative stimulus (SD) for the next step, what is this called?

• A. Task Chain
• B. Task Analysis
• C. Task Step
• D. A Recipe

Answer: (B)

Task analysis is the process of breaking a complex skill into smaller, discrete steps and specifying the order in which they occur. In chaining, you use that breakdown to guide teaching so that the completion of one step serves as the cue (the discriminative stimulus) for the next step and, often, as a source of reinforcement to continue moving through the sequence. This setup exactly matches the described scenario: a complex chain is divided into steps, and finishing one step both signals and enables the next while providing reinforcement to proceed.

The other terms don’t fit as well here. A task chain refers to the actual sequence of steps itself, not the process of identifying and structuring those steps. A Task Step is just an individual component, not the method of organizing and teaching the sequence. A Recipe isn’t the formal term used to describe this analytical process in ABA.