The Effects of Competing Verbal Behavior on Performance in a Math Task.

The purposes of this study were to evaluate the effects of an auditory-distractor stimulus and vocal-blocking task on performance on a math task and measures of overt verbal operants. College students served as participants, and they were instructed to solve an arithmetic problem while continuously emitting overt verbal behavior. The overt verbal behavior consisted of either talking aloud while solving the problem or reciting the alphabet.