Premium
The effect of unconditional stimulus modality and intensity on blink startle and electrodermal responses
Author(s) -
SIDDLE DAVID A. T.,
LIPP OTTMAR V.,
DALL PATRICIA J.
Publication year - 1997
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.1469-8986.1997.tb02384.x
Subject(s) - psychology , facilitation , stimulus (psychology) , attentional blink , corneal reflex , moro reflex , stimulus onset asynchrony , cognitive psychology , classical conditioning , audiology , conditioning , reflex , neuroscience , cognition , medicine , statistics , mathematics
Attentional accounts of blink facilitation during Pavlovian conditioning predict enhanced reflexes if reflex and unconditional stimuli (US) are from the same modality. Emotional accounts emphasize the importance of US intensity. In Experiment 1, we crossed US modality (tone vs. shock) and intensity in a 2 × 2 between‐subjects design. US intensity but not US modality affected blink facilitation. In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that the results from Experiment I were not due to the motor task requirements employed. In Experiment 3, we used a within‐subjects design to investigate the effects of US modality and intensity. Contrary to predictions derived from an attentional account, blink facilitation was larger during conditional stimuli that preceded shock than during those that preceded tones. The present results are not consistent with an attentional account of blink facilitation during Pavlovian conditioning in humans.