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Operant Conditioning of Autonomic Responses: One Perspective on the Curare Experiments

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Abstract

Occasional reports of successful operant conditioning of autonomic responses in curarized rats have continued to appear in recent years (Cabanac and Serres, 1976; Gliner, Horvath, and Wolfe, 1975; Middaugh, Eissenberg, and Brener, 1975; Thornton and Van-Toller, 1973a,b). These reports have done little, however, to dispel the doubt that persists concerning the replicability of earlier research in this preparation by Miller and DiCara (Obrist, Black, Brener, and DiCara, 1974). One goal of the present chapter is to review efforts to obtain operant conditioning of autonomic responses in the curarized rat and to consider the interpretation of the original studies that seems to be necessitated by repeated failures to obtain learning. A further goal is to discuss the implications of these developments for the study of operant autonomic conditioning and self-regulation. The focus of the chapter is on the operant conditioning of autonomic responses rather than of electromyographic activity or central nervous system responding. Major emphasis is given to heart rate, since most of the attempted replications of operant conditioning in curarized rats have dealt with this response.

The research reported here was supported by grants from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation (#345) and the National Research Council of Canada (#AO132). The chapter was written in the fall of 1976.

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© 1978 Plenum Press, New York

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Roberts, L.E. (1978). Operant Conditioning of Autonomic Responses: One Perspective on the Curare Experiments. In: Schwartz, G.E., Shapiro, D. (eds) Consciousness and Self-Regulation. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2571-0_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2571-0_7

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