This study was stimulated in part by a report of Gakkel and Zinina (1953) that 5s over 60 years of age required a longer period for conditioning of the eyeblink and also for its extinction. It was also performed to provide systematic information on the conditioning and extinction performance of children, young adults, and old adults under the same controlled conditions. Apparently this problem has been hitherto unexplored. METHODSubjects.-These were 15 boys in the age range 8-10 yr., with a mean age of 9.36 yr.; 15 male young adults (college students) aged 18-25 yr. whose mean age was 20.63 yr.; and 13 male adults whose mean age was 70.5 yr., range 62-84 yr. The old adults were noninstitutionalized and were either employed full time or part time, or retired. All 5s were volunteers and some of the elderly group were compensated for their services.Apparatus and, method of recording.-The equipment for recording the eyelid closure and for presenting the CS and UCS was similar to that used by Spence (1953), and will not be described here. The 5 sat in a dental chair in a darkened room adjoining that in which the stimulus controls and recording apparatus were located. He was instructed to blink on receiving a ready signal, and then to fixate on a 6-cm. circular milk glass disc placed at a distance at 125 cm.The CS was an increase in the brightness of this disc from 0.05 to 1.5 apparent ft.candles. The duration of the CS on each trial was 1 sec. The UCS was a puff of air with an intensity of 2.0 Ib./sq. in. delivered to the right eye, with a duration of 500 msec.

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