Premium
Operant Conditioning of Heart Rate: Somatic Correlates
Author(s) -
Obrist Paul A.,
Galosy Richard A.,
Lawler James E.,
Gaebelein Claude J.,
Howard James L.,
Shanks Emily M.
Publication year - 1975
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.1469-8986.1975.tb00022.x
Subject(s) - somatic cell , psychology , contingency , heart rate , conditioning , developmental psychology , contingency table , social psychology , medicine , statistics , biology , genetics , blood pressure , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics , gene
The relationships between heart rate (HR) and several parameters of somatic activity were evaluated in human subjects when shuck avoidance was made contingent on either increases or decreases in HR. In order to depict any influence of the contingency specific 10 HR, somatic activity was controlled to varying degrees by instructions and the use of non‐contingent control groups. When increases in HR were reinforced, the contingency we found to influence somatic activity but an effect specific to HR was also observed. When decreases in HR were reinforced, there was no evidence that HR were influenced independently of somatic activity. The result are discussed with respect to several current issues.