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ORIENTING AND DEFENSIVE RESPONSES TO ELECTRIC SHOCK
Author(s) -
Zimny George H.,
Kienstra Randy A.
Publication year - 1967
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1967.tb02719.x
Subject(s) - psychology , electric shock , tone (literature) , skin conductance , shock (circulatory) , audiology , amplitude , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , physics , medicine , quantum mechanics , art , literature , biomedical engineering
The major purpose of this study was to test 10 hypotheses dealing with orienting responses and defensive responses that were derived from Sokolov's theory. Four presentations of a 0.5‐sec tone were occasionally interpolated among a series of 40 presentations of a 0.5‐sec electric shock administered to one group of 14 human subjects and among 40 presentations of simultaneous 0.5‐sec shock and 0.5‐sec tone administered to another group of 14 subjects. Skin resistance was recorded and analyses were carried out on amplitude and base level. With amplitude, seven hypotheses were completely and two were partially confirmed, thereby providing strong support for Sokolov's theory. The findings were discussed in relation to various problems involved in the classical conditioning of physiological processes.