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OPERANT CONDITIONING OF HEART RATE SPEEDING
Author(s) -
Engel Bernard T.,
Chism Ray 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.tb02728.x
Subject(s) - psychology , heart rate , operant conditioning , heart beat , conditioning , beat (acoustics) , audiology , developmental psychology , social psychology , reinforcement , blood pressure , medicine , statistics , physics , mathematics , acoustics
The purpose of this study was to see if heart rate (HR) speeding could be operantly conditioned. Five experimental S s and five yoked‐control S s were studied. Experimental S s were positively reinforced for speeding their HR on a beat‐by‐beat basis, whereas yoked‐control S s were reinforced in a pattern based on the performance of paired experimental S s. The data showed that: all S s learned to speed their HR; some yoked‐controls responded with a pattern of response that included increased HR; and the techniques which S s use to regulate their HR vary widely from one S to another.