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Tonic and Phasic Electrodermal Measures of Human Aversive Conditioning with Long Duration Stimuli
Author(s) -
Lovibond Peter F.
Publication year - 1992
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.1469-8986.1992.tb02037.x
Subject(s) - tonic (physiology) , psychology , classical conditioning , stimulus (psychology) , unconditioned stimulus , conditioning , aversive stimulus , arousal , fear conditioning , measures of conditioned emotional response , skin conductance , conditioned emotional response , audiology , neuroscience , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , amygdala , medicine , statistics , mathematics , biomedical engineering
Two experiments investigated phasic and tonic electrodermal responding to long, variable‐duration stimuli in aversive conditioning procedures. Experiment 1 demonstrated reliable differential conditioning on both phasic (first interval response, FIR) and tonic (change in skin conductance level, δSCL; spontaneous fluctuations) measures, using 10–40‐s slides as conditioned stimuli (CSs) and electric shock as the unconditioned stimulus (UCS). Experiment 2 examined the sensitivity of phasic and tonic measures to UCS aversiveness. Both FIR and δSCL were greater to a conditioned stimulus paired with shock than one paired with an innocuous reaction‐time warning tone. Responding was reversed when the reinforcement contingencies were reversed. It was suggested that, with long duration CSs and an aversive UCS, phasic measures to stimulus onset, such as FIR, may reflect both stimulus significance and threat appraisal, whereas tonic measures reflect primarily arousal or anxiety arising from anticipation of the aversive unconditioned stimulus.