Two groups of 15 Ss, matched in number of paired conditioning trials needed to attain peak GSR magnitude, were then differentiated by giving one group 16 paired postpeak trials and the other 16 unpaired ess and uess. Both groups were then given eS-only extinction trials until either two zero responses or 50 trials occurred. The unpaired postpeak group extinguished in an average of 2.6 trials, while the paired postpeak group extinguished in 10.6 trials. This difference was highly statistically significant. The unpaired postpeak group's mean GSR during acquisition was below that of the paired postpeak group only on the last block of trials. Administering paired prepeak trials apparently potentiates the extinguishing effect of unpaired trials subsequently delivered, possibly via some kind of "contrast" effect, since the unpaired postpeak group extinguished faster than occurs when no pairing whatsoever is given.
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