CLASSICAL CONDITIONING OF HEART RATE AND GALVANIC SKIN RESPONSE IN THE RAT

Abstract

ABSTRACT A comparison was made between classical conditioning and pseudoconditioning of heart rate (HR) and galvanic skin response (GSR) using low or high intensity shock as unconditioned stimuli (UCS). Conditioning treatment involved 5‐sec delayed conditioning, 32 trials/session for 5 sessions with shock administered randomly on half the trials. Pseudoconditioning was exactly the same except for pairing of CS and UCS. In contrast to pseudoconditioning, which produced mild acceleration of HR, minimal GSR, and frequent somatic response to the CS (as defined electromyographically), conditioning treatment produced consistent deceleration of HR, larger magnitude and frequency of GSR, and minimal overt somatic response to CS. The conditioned decelerative HR response developed rapidly and persisted throughout the experiment. Such apparent conditioning phenomena may still involve sensitization‐type effects and somatic interactions.