Effects of instructional set and UCS intensity on the latency, percentage, and form of the eyelid response.

Abstract

The purpose of the present investigation was to compare the effects of voluntary and nonvoluntary blink instructions on the latency, frequency, and form of eyelid responses under classical conditioning and extinction procedures. The study was also concerned with determining the effects on these response variables of independently varying UCS intensity. The principal findings of this investigation were: (a) Ss under voluntary instructional set exhibited responses of shorter latency, attained higher levels of percentage of responses, and had sharper lid closures than Ss under nonvoluntary instructional set in both acquisition and extinction; (6) as UCS intensity increased it was observed that in acquisition response latency decreased, percentage of responses increased, and sharpness of lid closure showed no systematic change; and (c) there were no significant interaction effects between instructional set and UCS intensity on the latency, percentage, or form of the response in acquisition or extinction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)