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Effects of Potentially Phobic Conditioned Stimuli on Retention, Reconditioning, and Extinction of the Conditioned Skin Conductance Response
Author(s) -
Schell Anne M.,
Dawson Michael E.,
Marinkovic Ksenija
Publication year - 1991
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.1469-8986.1991.tb00403.x
Subject(s) - psychology , skin conductance , interstimulus interval , extinction (optical mineralogy) , conditioning , measures of conditioned emotional response , conditioned response , expectancy theory , audiology , classical conditioning , developmental psychology , neuroscience , social psychology , chemistry , unconditioned stimulus , medicine , mineralogy , statistics , mathematics , stimulation , biomedical engineering
ABSTRACT Discriminative classical conditioning of skin conductance responses (SCRs) was studied in 163 college students as a function of four variables: CS type (potentially phobic versus neutral conditioned stimuli), Sex of the subject, Interstimulus interval (ISI) during conditioning (.5 versus 8 s), and Retention interval between conditioning and retention assessment (1 versus 6 months). CS type did not affect acquisition, retention, or reconditioning of the differential conditioned responses. The effect of CS type was highly significant during extinction, with differential SCRs to CS+ and CS− being greater with potentially phobic conditioned stimuli. This was true for both sexes, both the .5‐s and the 8‐s ISI, and after a 1‐month or a 6‐month retention interval. Moreover, SCRs conditioned to phobic conditioned stimuli with the .5‐s ISI persisted even after subjects' cognitive expectancy of the UCS, which was measured on a trial‐by‐trial basis, had completely extinguished. The results indicate that the effect of potentially phobic conditioned stimuli on the conditioned skin conductance response is unique to resistance to extinction—they affect not learning but unlearning of the autonomic response.