Although Sellars would not identify meaning of observation statements with a pattern of responses, he would claim the patterns are the link between language and sensory experience. So justification will be so linked. Observation Statements and Conditioned Responses Consider the view that one is completely justified in accepting an observation statement in part because of patterns of conditioned responses. But we may be conditioned to respond with erroneous beliefs. Poor people respond with erroneous beliefs about the size of coins more frequently than those who are not.
Conditioning is neutral with respect to truth and error.
There may be a coincidence between justified belief and stimulus-patterns, but this is not what makes them justified. This applies to all conditioning theories. We do try to condition children to have true beliefs, but it is not this conditioning which makes them justified. Observation and Spontaneity Bonjour suggests that there be an observation requirement, that various beliefs that occur spontaneously are reliable and likely to be true. But it is not spontaneity which makes the beliefs justified, but their content.