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Autonomic indicators of information processing related to conditioning
Author(s) -
KIRSCH PETER,
BOUCSEIN WOLFRAM,
BALTISSEN RÜDIGER
Publication year - 1995
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.1469-8986.1995.tb01218.x
Subject(s) - psychology , stimulus (psychology) , information processing , conditioning , unconditioned stimulus , classical conditioning , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , statistics , mathematics
The aim of the present study was to quantitatively investigate the role of information processing in conditioning using stimuli with varying amounts of information content. A letter reproduction task varying in complexity served as the unconditioned stimulus. In the first experiment, we tested the indicator function of electrodermal and car‐diovascular variables. The amount of information processing resources required emerged most clearly in electrodermal reactions (EDRs), showing an increase with increasing stimulus information content. A second experiment was performed using the same design to confirm the role of processing resources allocation during conditioning by means of an independent indicator. A reaction time task was introduced as a measure of information processing resources utilized. The results paralled the dependence of EDRs on stimulus information content, as was found in the first experiment.