A study of conditioned respiratory changes.

The generalization of conditioned responses. IV. The effects of varying amounts of reinforcement upon the degree of generalization of conditioned responses.

“…The results here presented, as well as those found in a preliminary experiment with varying frequencies of tone (15), suggest that the curve of acquisition of the galvanic skin reaction is not of the typical S-shaped variety (Hull,16) reported for conditioned salivary responses (Kleitman and Crisler,19), for conditioned knee-jerks (Wendt,26), and for conditioned eyelid responses in dogs (Hilgard and Marquis,8), monkeys (Hilgard and Marquis,9), and in human subjects (Hilgard,7,Hilgard and Campbell,10). Instead, the curve is of the type characteristically found for the acquisition of simple motor skills, but also obtained for conditioned respiratory responses (Garvey,6) and for conditioned eyelid responses with multiple stimuli (Miller and Cole,23).…”

A proposed quantification of habit strength.

“…12. By (10), (11), and related statistical principles, it follows that if the latencies of two groups of SIR'S, A and B, are compared and more than 50 per cent of the B's are shorter than the A's, this not only implies that the SER of the B's must be greater than is that of the ^4's, but that this difference has a determinate magnitude. The logic behind the quantification of the difference in reaction potential is illustrated in Fig.…”

Hallucinations produced by sensory conditioning.

“…Conditioning Experiments Garvey (8), who by means of a shock as the unconditioned stimulus conditioned respiratory changes to a vibrator and buzzer separately and then tested the stimuli separately and together, states that 6 of 8 subjects reported shock with the double stimulus, although actually this combination was never given. One subject reported each day for 3 days that the shock came with the double signal usually, and seldom in any other combination.…”

“…No certain conclusions may be drawn from the foregoing evidence as to the conditions under which sensory conditioning does or does not occur. However, several possibly favorable conditions are suggested: (a) an emotion-arousing unconditioned stimulus such as electric shock (5,8,13); (b) dissociation of the pairing and testing situation (10,15); (c) a subliminal unconditioned stimulus or one not attended to (8); and (d) difficulty of discrimination between the presence or absence of the objective stimulus (13, possibly 8). Also, on theoretical grounds one might expect (e) motivation, a desire to perceive, to be a fifth favorable factor.…”