Differential eyelid conditioning of voluntary form responders

Abstract

Conditioned eyelid responses of 120 men and 120 women Ss were investigated during 60 differential conditioning trials. The CS+ and the CS-were differentially placed lights and the UCS was a corneal “air” puff with an 800 msec. CS-UCS interval. The Ss were classified as conditioners (Cs) or voluntary form responders (Vs) by a time derivative or response slope criterion. The Vs had a higher level of responding to the CS+, a higher level of responding to the CS−, and a greater mean difference score between responses to CS+ and CS-than did the Cs. This was taken to imply that the voluntary response form criterion had behavioral relevance and that the data of Vs should at least be examined separately from those of Cs in human eyelid conditioning experiments. Further, it appears that the parameters of voluntary form responding merit investigation in their own right.