Modification of the galvanic reflex by daily repetition of a stimulus.

Abstract

In spite of the interest and importance of the question of the acquisition, modification, and loss of emotional reactions, there has been surprisingly little experimental work concerned with the topic. H. B. English (12) remarked: "Upon the pioneer experiments of Watson and Rayner on the conditioned emotional response there has been erected a towering edifice of theory; the factual basis for the edifice remains appallingly slight.

Retention in a warm environment of adaptation to localized cooling

“…Adaptation of receptors to cold takes place in time of the order of seconds or fractions of seconds (Hensel, 1952), but the low conductivity of the tissues of the hand and the existence of a blood supply to the skin make it likely that in an intact limb immediate adaptation would require time of the order of 10 sec or of 1 min (Wolf & Hardy, 1941;Hensel, 1952). Experimental demonstration of habituation in man usually requires time of the order of 1 day (Davis, 1934;Glaser & Whittow, 1954), but it was of interest to find out whether adaptation might be acquired and retained over shorter periods. It was decided, therefore, to conduct tests at intervals of one minute, one hour, and one day.…”

Habituation: A history

“…In earlier experiments devoted to habituation, per se, parametric characteristics were studied for a variety of responses (cf. Harris, 1943) ranging from postrotatory nystagmus (Griffith, 1920; Wendt, 1951) to startle (Prosser & Hunter, 1936) and galvanic skin response (GSR—Davis, 1934). With the exception of the “knee jerk” reflex (Lombard, 1887; Prosser & Hunter, 1936) habituation was a consistent finding, usually exhibiting an exponential course.…”

“…Konorski (1948) describes it for the orientating response, and it has been described in many studies where repeated habituation series were given (e.g., Davis, 1934). …”

Electrodermal Arousal of Chronically Ill Psychiatric Patients Undergoing Intensive Behavioral Treatment

“…A highly significant relationship (rho = .742, p < 0.001) was also found between the independently obtained MSBS scores and average GSR specific to the 12 Stimuli. When the verbal responses to the 12 Stimuli were scored by the same criteria used in scoring the MSBS, rank order correlations between simultaneously obtained psychological and physiological scores yielded a coefficient of .402 (p < 0.05).…”