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There were 280 college students who served in a semantic conditioning and generalization experiment where galvanic skin response (GSR) and cephalic vasomotor response measures were obtained as well as semantic differential ratings of the control words and the critical conditioned stimulus (CS) and generalization test words. Different groups of students received either 110-dB white noise, 95-dB white noise, 80-dB white noise, a 110-dB tone, or an 80-db tone as the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) during conditioning.An initial habituation series of 15 neutral words was presented. This was followed by semantic conditioning, which consisted of 10 presentations of the word PLANT followed in 10 sec by a UCS. Different unrelated filler words were interspersed among the conditioning trials. A semantic generalization test followed in which different groups received five unreinforced presentations of either TREE or STEM, which were associates of the CS word, or MUSIC, a word unrelated to the CS or other generalization test words.Differential semantic conditioning and generalization were manifested in the GSR index of the orienting reflex and semantic differential ratings. Both measures varied with the UCS condition. In terms of both the GSR and semantic differential ratings, conditioning and generalization were apparent only in students who could verbalize the appropriate stimulus contingencies.The extinction test of generalization indicated that reliable differential generalization occurred to all three test words, the unrelated word MUSIC as well as the two associates PLANT and STEM. What is more, differential semantic generalization of the GSR increased over the five test trials.

The galvanic skin response was obtained from 36 college students in a differential semantic conditioning and generalization situation in which different groups were instructed to perform a pedal response whenever they heard a tone, covertly free associate whenever they heard a tone, or sit quietly and listen to words and tones.

Twelve college students in each of three groups were instructed to (1) sit quietly and listen while innocuous words and an occasional tone were heard, (2) covertly think pleasant thoughts whenever they heard a tone, or (3) perform an overtpedal response whenever they heard a tone.Twenty different neutral words were presented prior to the tone. Habituation of the GSR induced by these different words varied significantly as a function of the task instructions. Pedal group students displayed mean magnitude GSRs significantly larger than those of the control group. Think group students did not differ significantly from either of the two remaining groups. Basal conductance levels did not differ significantly among the three groups, which indicates that differences in the phasic GSR cannot be attributed to differences in arousal level. An interpretation of the results was offered in terms of the orienting reflex (OR) and its predeterminers.

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