Acquisition and differential conditioning of the eyelid response in normal and retarded children

Abstract

Thirty-two retarded and 32 normal children matched on MA ( X = 84 months) were Ss in a classical eyelid conditioning study which included three phases of conditioning: single-cue acquisition, differential conditioning, and differential-conditioning reversal. Two CS-UCS intervals (ISIs), 500 and 800 milliseconds, were used. Acquisition performance was dependent upon ISI with the normal 800-millisecond group superior to both of the retardate groups and the normal 500-millisecond group. In differential conditioning both retardate ISI groups and the normal 800-millisecond group responded differentially but only the normal 800-millisecond Ss showed evidence of a learned discrimination. Neither normals nor retardates reversed their differential responding during the reversal phase. These results were in contrast to those obtained from college students run under similar procedures. College Ss showed increasing differential conditioning with both ISIs and good discrimination reversal under the 800-millisecond ISI condition. The results indicated (a) that comparison of the general “condition-ability” of normal and retarded children is of questionable value, with the issue of most importance being the differential effects of conditioning parameters on the conditioning performance of the IQ populations; and (b) that the processes necessary for successful differential conditioning and reversal are present in decreasing degree in college adults, normal children and retarded children.