The CS-UCS interval in GSR conditioning.

Abstract

Four conditioning groups trained at CS-UCS intervals of 250,450, 1,000, and 2,500 msec, and a pseudoconditioning control group were employed in a study of the role of the interstimulus interval in the trace conditioning of the Fere GSR. The optimal CS-UCS interval was found to be 450 msec, shorter and longer intervals yielding poorer performance. This finding appears to indicate that the optimal interval for conditioning does not vary with the overt response being conditioned. However, it is suggested that the GSR, as measured in this experiment, was the resultant of a conditioned skeletal response, and that a measure of pure autonomic conditioning would not give the same results.