A new recursive supervised training algorithm is derived for the radial basis neural network architecture. The new algorithm combines the procedures of on-line candidate regressor selection with the conventional Givens QR based recursive parameter estimator to provide efficient adaptive supervised network training. A new concise on-line correlation based performance monitoring scheme is also introduced as an auxiliary device to detect structural changes in temporal data processing applications. Practical and simulated examples are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new procedures. Copyright 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.