Eyelid conditioning as influenced by the presence of sensitized Beta-responses.

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Abstract
The object of the expt. was to discover the effect of a high frequency of B-responses during reinforcement upon eyelid conditioning. Two groups of subjects were submitted to 25 standard light-puff reinforcement trials on each of 2 days. This procedure occurred after the 21 subjects of the dark adapted group were dark adapted in order to sensitize the /3-response mechanism. The 20 subjects of the non-adapted group remained light adapted. On the 3d day, subjects of both groups were given 16 standard extinction trials under identical conditions of light adaptation. The essential findings of the expt. were as follows: 1. The object of dark adaptation and light adaptation was clearly achieved; the frequency of [beta]-responses was maximized in the dark adapted group and minimized in the non-adapted group. 2. The subjects of the non-adapted group gave typical acquisition and extinction curves for the frequency and magnitude of the conditioned reflexes. 3. The acquisition curves for subjects of the dark adapted group were obscured by the high frequency of [beta]-responses, but the extinction curves reversed the trend usually found with eyelid conditioning. The increases in the frequency and magnitude of the responses which occurred with these subjects during extinction were significantly different from the corresponding normal extinction trends in the non-adapted group. 4. The results indicate that under ''Standard'' exptl. arrangements for eyelid conditioning, the conditioned reflexes are restricted to a latency range of 250-450 msec. The findings indicated that the eyelid conditioned reflex is not a modified [beta]-response as had been hypothesized, but that the presence of the [beta]-response during reinforcement has a definite effect upon eyelid conditioning. It is conjectured that the effect may arise through a novel type of reinforcement occurring, perhaps, when the completion of a newly acquired conditioned reflex was blocked by the effects of the shorter-latency [beta]-response.

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