Abstract
This paper presents two experiments which investigated amplitude of the skin conductance response (SCR) component of the orienting response to decreases in stimulus duration. Experiment 1 employed auditory stimuli, while visual stimuli were used in Experiment 2. In Experiment 1 (N = 60), experimental subjects received 6, 12, or 18 presentations of a 1,000-Hz, 70-dB training stimulus of 15 sec duration, followed by a test trial on which stimulus duration was 5 sec. Control subjects received 19 training trials. There were no differences in responsiveness on the test trial between the control group on the one hand and experimental groups on the other. In Experiment 2 (N = 60), half the subjects received 15 presentations of a 5-sec patterned visual stimulus, while for the other half, the stimulus was nonpatterned. Within each of these groups, stimulus duration was reduced to 1 sec on Trial 16 (test trial) for half of the subjects. The results indicated that experimental subjects displayed significantly larger test trial SCRs than did control subjects, regardless of whether the stimulus was patterned or nonpatterned.
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This research was supported by Grant B/RG/44047 from the Science Research Council.
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Siddle, D.A.T., Kyriacou, C. & Heron, P.A. Effects of change in stimulus duration on amplitude of the electrodermal orienting response. Psychobiology 6, 121–125 (1978). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03326705
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03326705