Premium
The Latency Distribution of the Skin Conductance Response as a Function of the CS‐UCS Interval
Author(s) -
Burstein Kenneth R.,
Smith Barry D.
Publication year - 1972
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.1469-8986.1972.tb00738.x
Subject(s) - latency (audio) , audiology , psychology , medicine , telecommunications , computer science
Latency distributions were obtained for the skin conductance response, by blocks of 5 trials, for groups (N = 13) conditioned with CS‐UCS intervals of 3.5, 5.5, 7.5, 10.5, 15.5, and 20.5 sec. Another group (N = 13) received 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 trials respectively with a .5 sec CS‐UCS interval. For all blocks of 5 trials, in the extended CS‐UCS groups, the modal response occurred in the 2–3 sec latency range characteristic of the orienting response (OR). There was no significant difference in OR frequency as a function of the CS‐UCS interval. There was no systematic increase in response frequency with repeated trials in any of the latency ranges scored. No significant difference in acquisition was obtained as a function of the CS‐UCS interval in the extended CS‐UCS groups for either frequency or for magnitude. Performance of the (composite) .5 sec CS‐UCS group was superior to that of the extended groups. This difference was not attributable to differential OR frequency. The PC group also exhibited a modal response in the 2–3 sec (OR) latency range. Response frequency in the OR latency range was lower in the PC group than in the conditioned groups, but response frequency outside of the OR range was higher in the PC groups than in the conditioned groups.