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Stimulus Intensity Reduction Following Habituation
Author(s) -
Edwards David C.
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.tb03052.x
Subject(s) - habituation , psychology , orienting response , stimulus (psychology) , audiology , stimulation , skin conductance , intensity (physics) , conditioning , classical conditioning , neuroscience , optics , cognitive psychology , medicine , physics , statistics , mathematics , biomedical engineering
Extent of habituation was manipulated by the number of presentations of a short burst of moderate intensity white noise: 4, 8. 15. 22. or 30 times. Skin conductance response (SCR) magnitude to subsequent lest noise pulses of markedly less intensity increased with the extent of habituation. However, response magnitude to tests after 4 or 8 pulses was less than that to the immediately preceding louder pulse, and response to the less intense probe noises after 15, 22, or 30 habituation pulses was greater than that to the immediately preceding pulse. These changes in intensity of stimulation had two effects. They directly determined SCR magnitude, and they provided a stimulation discrepancy yielding an orienting reaction. The experimental problem was introduced using both conditioning/learning and neuronal modeling concepts.