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CLASSICAL CONDITIONING OF DECREASES IN HUMAN SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE 1
Author(s) -
Whitehead William E.,
Lurie Ellen,
Blackwell Barry
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
journal of applied behavior analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1938-3703
pISSN - 0021-8855
DOI - 10.1901/jaba.1976.9-153
Subject(s) - blood pressure , conditioning , classical conditioning , stimulus (psychology) , sensitization , reflex , psychology , audiology , anesthesia , cardiology , medicine , neuroscience , cognitive psychology , mathematics , statistics
Decrease in human systolic blood pressure of 4.35 mm Hg (range: 0 to 12 mm Hg) were classically conditioned in normal and hypertensive subjects using a delayed conditioning paradigm in which a 30‐sec auditory stimulus (the conditioned stimulus) was followed immediately by tilting the subject 15° head‐down to elicit small decreases in blood pressure. Conditioning occurred within five trials. A control group demonstrated that sensitization of the reflex by repeated tilting could not account for the blood‐pressure decreases associated with the conditioned stimulus in experimental subjects.