COGNITIVE PROCESSES DURING DIFFERENTIAL TRACE AND DELAYED CONDITIONING OF GSR

THE CONCORDANCE BETWEEN CONDITIONAL GSR DIFFERENTIATION AND ABILITY TO VERBALIZE CS RELATIONS ACCURATELY WAS ASSESSED IN 26 TRACE CONDITIONED SS. THE CSS WERE 1.5-SEC TONES OF DIFFERING FREQUENCIES, THE UCS WAS A SHOCK, AND THE CS-UCS INTERVAL WAS 8 SEC. DIVISION OF THE INTERSTIMULUS INTERVAL AND THE POST-UCS PERIOD INTO 3 INTERVALS PERMITTED THE ANALYSES OF MULTIPLE GSRS. BOTH INTERTRIAL REPORTS AND POSTCONDITIONING INTERVIEWS WERE OBTAINED. CONDITIONAL DIFFERENTIATION WAS LIMITED TO A GROUP OF 10 SS WHO ACCURATELY VERBALIZED THE STIMULUS CONTINGENCIES DURING POSTCONDITIONING INTERVIEWS. IN A COMPARISON GROUP OF 26 DELAYED CONDITIONED SS, 18 VERBALIZED ACCURATELY. BOTH THE TRACE AND DELAYED GROUPS SHOWED SIGNIFICANT 1ST INTERVAL GSR DIFFERENTIATION DURING ACQUISITION. THE TRACE GROUP UNLIKE THE DELAYED GROUP DID NOT DIFFERENTIATE IN THE 2ND INTERVAL DURING ACQUISITION, NOR IN ANY OF THE 3 INTERVALS DURING EXTINCTION. ASSESSING GSR DIFFERENTIATION IN ACCURATELY VERBALIZING SS ONLY, TRACE SS DID NOT CONDITION IN THE 2ND INTERVAL DURING ACQUISITION NOR IN THE 1ST 2 INTERVALS DURING EXTINCTION; DELAYED SS CONDITIONED IN ALL RELEVANT INTERVALS. (18 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.