Can Tacting During an Activity Improve Recall Later?

Many children with autism struggle to answer questions about past events—things like “What did you do at school?” or “What happened at the park?” This study explores whether having a learner label what they see during an activity can help them remember and report more details afterward. For clinicians, the findings offer a practical, low-risk strategy worth testing with learners who tact well but recall poorly.

What Is the Research Question Being Asked and Why Does It Matter?

The question was simple: if a learner tacts what they see while looking at pictures, will they remember those pictures better later?

The authors cared about this because many children with autism have difficulty answering questions about past events. For day-to-day ABA work, recall matters. It shows up when you want a learner to tell a caregiver what happened at school, report a problem, share something fun, or answer “What did you learn today?”

If tacting during an event helps recall later, that gives clinicians one more practical tool before moving to more complex memory strategies.

This matters even more because recall is not one single skill. A learner might label things well in the moment but still give very little information later. This study aimed at that gap: can we change what happens during the event to help what happens after?

What Did the Researchers Do to Answer That Question?

They worked with five males with autism: four adolescents and one young child. All had strong tact skills (at least 200 tacts on the VB-MAPP) but weak recall skills. Sessions happened in homes for most participants and in a park for one.

Each session had two parts. First, the learner watched a PowerPoint slideshow with 25 black-and-white pictures of stick figures doing actions. Each picture showed for 5 seconds, then a short blank screen. Then the learner did other activities for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, the researcher asked, “Tell me what pictures you remember,” and counted how many correct descriptions the learner said.

They compared three ways of viewing the pictures:

• Looking quietly: The learner watched silently and was redirected if they talked.
• Tacting: The learner was asked “What do you see?” for each picture. Correct tacts got praise; if needed, the researcher prompted the tact.
• Blocking: The learner repeated letters and numbers out loud while watching, meant to interfere with saying or thinking the picture labels.

For three participants, extra rewards for recall answers were added later because results were unclear at first. One child also needed a “keep going” prompt when he tried to stop early. They used a rapid alternation design so each condition was tested multiple times with different picture sets.

How You Can Use This in Your Day-to-Day Clinical Practice

If you are trying to build “talking about the past,” consider starting earlier than the recall question. This study suggests that what the learner does during the event can change how much they say later.

A practical takeaway: add simple, supportive tacting during an activity you want them to remember. During a short outing, book, craft, or photo review, you can ask “What do you see?” or “What is he doing?” and reinforce clear, specific labels.

Use this most with learners who already tact well but give very little when asked about earlier events. In the study, all participants had large tact repertoires. This is not a good match for learners who cannot yet label common actions or items. For those learners, you may need to teach basic tacts first, or use simpler goals like choosing between pictures rather than free recall.

When using tacting to support recall, aim for tacts that include action words and details—not just single nouns. In the study, a correct recall answer needed a subject and a verb (like “man riding a bike”), and sometimes extra detail to separate similar pictures (“sitting on a bench” versus “sitting on a bike”). You can shape this by reinforcing “who + doing what + where/with what” when it fits the learner and does not turn into pressure.

Be careful not to treat this like a compliance task. If the learner is tired, upset, or trying to enjoy the activity, nonstop questions may reduce joy and harm rapport. Offer choices like “Do you want to tell me about the picture, or just watch?” and thin prompts as soon as the learner is responding. The goal is better contact with the event, not perfect performance.

Do not assume tacting is the only reason recall improved. In this study, the tacting condition often took longer than the other conditions because of prompting and praise. More time with the pictures alone could help memory. If you try this clinically, consider keeping exposure time similar across conditions when testing what works for a learner. One easy way is to build in short pauses in all conditions, not only when tacting.

Also notice that the tacting condition included the adult repeating and expanding the tact (“That’s right, it’s a man driving a car!”). The learner got extra verbal models, not just reinforcement. If you adopt this strategy, decide whether you are doing simple praise (“Yes”) versus praise plus a restated model (“Yes, man driving a car”). If your learner repeats your model instead of generating their own tact, fade the model quickly.

The blocking condition is a reminder that adding a competing talk task can reduce recall for many learners. In clinical settings, this could look like requiring the learner to talk through something unrelated while an event is happening, or pushing a lot of unrelated vocal demands during an activity you want them to remember. If your goal is later recall, reduce competing verbal demands during key moments.

Plan your recall probe in a way that is fair and dignified. In this study, recall was free response (“Tell me what pictures you remember”) with minimal prompting. Many learners will need a bridge from that to more natural recall. You might start with open-ended recall, then add gentle cues only if needed (“Do you remember any people doing something?”), while tracking how much help you gave so you do not overestimate true recall.

Reinforcement for recall may be necessary for some learners, but it can change the task. In this study, some participants only showed clear differences after rewards were added for recall answers. If you add reinforcement, watch for learners who “cash out” early (saying “done” fast) and build persistence in a respectful way—such as a clear goal (“Let’s try for three more things you remember”) and a stop option. Keep the focus on communication and sharing, not on getting all 25.

Finally, treat these results as a starting point, not a rule. One participant did not show better recall with tacting, and the study was small. Use this as a low-risk strategy to test: add tacting during an event, measure recall later, and compare it to what happens with less talking during the event. If the learner recalls more and seems comfortable, keep it. If they recall the same or show stress, adjust your approach, reduce prompts, or try other recall-teaching methods.

Works Cited

Keesey-Phelan, S., Axe, J. B., & Chase, P. N. (2025). The effects of reinforcing tacting on the recall of children with autism. *The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 41*(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-024-00207-5