The relation of anxiety to differential eyelid conditioning.

Abstract

Two expts. were conducted to provide data on the level of response and degree of differentiation between the positive and negative CS by anxious and nonanxious Ss in an eyelid conditioning situation. The positive CS in both expts., a 500-cycle tone, and the negative CS, a 5,000-cycle tone, were each presented 50 times in a prearranged order. The interval between the positive CS and the UCS, a 1.0 lb./sq. in. air-puff, was 500 msec. in both experiments. In expt. I the UCS was omitted following the negative CS; in expt. II, the negative CS was followed by the UCS at an interval of 2,500 msec. The only significant differences between the anxious and nonanxious Ss occurred in connection with the level of response to the positive CS. No significant differences between the two groups were found for the negative stimulus although the level of response tended to be higher for the anxious Ss. Contrary to the findings reported by Hilgard, Jones, and Kaplan, the degree of differentiation between the positive and negative stimuli, as measured by the difference between their excitatory tendencies, was consistently greater for the anxious groups. None of the differences in degree of differentiation, however, was significant.