Abstract
The present study is concerned with the problem of awareness in the operant conditioning of a nonverbal behavior, eye blinks. Using a within-subjects design, 14 subjects’ blink rates were counted and compared for four periods of 4 min each. The experimenter and the subject carried on an informal conversation during both base and reinforcement periods, but during reinforcement periods only, a light flashed on immediately after each of the subject’s blinks. The test for awareness consisted of brief questioning after reinforcement periods and a more extensive postexperimental interview. Only data for the eight unaware subjects were used in statistical analysis. A two-factor analysis of variance showed no evidence of conditioning without awareness; in fact, the blink rate for reinforcement periods was significantly less than the rate for base periods (p <.05). The anomaly was explained in terms of the effects of cognitive activity on eye-blink rate.
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Barron, V. L. Blink rate as afunction of cognitive complexity and emotional arousal. Unpublished master’s thesis. Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, 1973.
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This research was supported in part by a grant from the State of Oklahoma.
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Jones, F., Hochhaus, L. The role of awareness in the operant conditioning of eye blinks. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 8, 374–376 (1976). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335171
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335171