Abstract
The mediation explanation of the effect of operant reinforcement on autonomic responses assumes that skeletally mediated autonomic responses can be easily and fortuitously conditioned. GSR deflections elicited by deep respirations were operantly reinforced. The two responses became uncoupled: the skeletal (deep respiration) response showed a classic instrumental learning curve; the autonomic response showed great variability and only marginal (E-C) gains during extinction. It is possible that these marginal gains were artifactual since the per cent of deep respirations eliciting GSRs showed a marked habituation to increasing repetitions of the respiration response.
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1. This study was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research of the Office of Aerospace Research, under Contract No. AF 49(638)-1387, and Contract NONR 233(91) between the Office of Naval Research, Department of the Navy and the Brain Research Institute of the University of California, Los Angeles, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NsG 237-62.
Appreciation is expressed to R. T. Kado for advice and instrumentation of the project. I am indebted to Barbara Vosen for her technical assistance and for giving unstintingly of her time.
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Gavalas, R.J. Operant reinforcement of a skeletally mediated autonomic response: Uncoupling of the two responses. Psychon Sci 11, 195–196 (1968). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03327652
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03327652