Pickering & Garrod's interactive alignment account corresponds directly with the account Skinner gave in his book Verbal Behavior. This correspondence becomes evident when “properties of verbal stimuli” substitutes for “channels of alignment.” Skinner 's account appears to have the dual advantages of requiring fewer basic terms and integrating the field of verbal behavior with the whole field of human behavior.

Although Shanker & King disregard the behavioral paradigm, their arguments are reminiscent of those in Skinner 's Verbal Behavior. Like S&K, Skinner maintained that communication is not appropriately characterized as the transmission of information between individuals. In contrast to the paradigm advocated by S&K, however, the behavioral paradigm emphasizes prediction and control as important scientific goals.