Effects of stimulus information and stimulus duration on amplitude and habituation of the electrodermal orienting response

Spinks, John A.; Siddle, David A.T.

doi:10.1016/0301-0511(76)90028-4

Cited by 37 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Berlyne, Craw, Salapatek and Lewis (1963) found that more complex or incongruous stimuli, containing more information, evoked more SCR's than stimuli containing less information, but only when they instructed their subjects to attend to the stimuli because after the experiment their knowledge of the stimuli would be tested in a recognition test. Spinks and Siddle (1976) found significantly slower SCR habituation to task-relevant visual stimuli with more information.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

The influence of task relevance and stimulus information on habituation of the visual and the skin conductance orienting reaction

Verbaten¹,

Woestenburg²,

Sjouw³

1980

Biological Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study investigated the hypothesis that task-relevant stimuli induce orienting reactions (ORs) that are stronger and more resistant to habituation when their information content is high than when it is low. Task-relevance was given to the stimuli by rewarding the subjects for correct recognition at the end of the experiment. The dependent variables in this study were the visual orienting reaction (VOR), the skin conductance reaction (SCR), their habituation scores and the number of spontaneous fluctuations in skin conductance (SFs). 28 subjects received two blocks of 14 trials. Half the subjects received the higher information condition first and then the lower information condition, while the other half received the reversed order. The VOR habituated quickly and was not significantly influenced by information value. SCR amplitudes were larger and SCR-habituation slower to stimuli containing more information. The results were interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that the SCR is associated with a secondary phase of the orienting process.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

The influence of task relevance and stimulus information on habituation of the visual and the skin conductance orienting reaction

Verbaten¹,

Woestenburg²,

Sjouw³

1980

Biological Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Research is in progress to investigate the relationship between uncertainty and complexity during habituation. Spinks and Siddle (1976) found that SCR-habituation during the 60-bits condition was significantly slower than during the 12-bits condition. The difference between these results and the results in our study might be explained by the fact that they instructed their subjects to pay attention to the stimuli while we did not.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…It might be that the task-relevance condition (Spinks and Siddle, 1976) induced more mental effort during the more difficult condition (60 bits), leading to more SCR activity. Bagshaw, Kimble and Pribam (1965) suggested that the SCR is not involved in the production of orienting activity (= attention) directly but in its registration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It might be that during this secondary stage further processing of the stimuli might lead to more stable memory traces and that the SCR activity is associated with that process. The suggestion is offered with the necessary precaution because the task in the experiment of Spinks and Siddle (1976) was almost certainly easier; their subjects received only one information condition, while our subjects received two information conditions, probably causing interferention to some extent. Research is in progress to investigate the relation between stimulus information and task relevance during habituation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a later study (O'Gorman, 1973), however, it was pointed out that a SCR is not necessarily an index of the recognition of a stimulus or recognition of a change of stimulation, because some subjects although able to report a stimulus change accurately, show no SCR. Spinks and Siddle (1976), defining stimulus information in terms of stimulus complexity (Attneave, 1954), found that stimuli with higher information value induced slower SCR habituation, but did not induce larger initial SCR's. The question, therefore, whether or not information value of the stimulus influences the OR and habituation of the OR has not been settled.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The influence of visual information on habituation of the electrodermal and the visual orienting reaction

Verbaten

Woestenburg

Sjouw

1979

Biological Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this study the influence of the information value of visual stimuli on habituation of the visual orienting reaction (VOR) and the skin conductance reaction (SCR) was investigated. 28 subjects received two blocks of 14 trials. Half the subjects received the higher information condition first and then the lower information, the other half received the conditions in the reversed order. Subjects fixated the stimuli with the higher information value longer than the stimuli with the lower information value during the 14 trials and habituated slower. This effect of information was absent in the second block and VOR habituation was also faster in this block. There was no difference in SCR amplitudes nor in SCR habituation scores between the two information conditions, neither in block 1 nor in block 2. The results of this study are discussed in relation with a two-stage model of the OR.

show abstract

The Orienting Response: Index of Attention

Cohen

2013

The Neuropsychology of Attention

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Effects of stimulus information and stimulus duration on amplitude and habituation of the electrodermal orienting response

Cited by 37 publications

References 18 publications

The influence of task relevance and stimulus information on habituation of the visual and the skin conductance orienting reaction

The influence of task relevance and stimulus information on habituation of the visual and the skin conductance orienting reaction

The influence of visual information on habituation of the electrodermal and the visual orienting reaction

The Orienting Response: Index of Attention

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About