OPERANT CONDITIONING OF HEART RATE SLOWING
- 1 October 1966
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Psychophysiology
- Vol. 3 (2) , 176-187
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.1966.tb02693.x
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to see if heart rate (HR) slowing could be operantly conditioned. Ten experimental Ss and five yoked‐control Ss were studied. Experimental Ss were positively reinforced for slowing their HR on a beat‐by‐beat basis, whereas yoked‐control Ss were reinforced in a pattern based on the performance of paired experimental Ss. The data showed that: some Ss can be taught to slow their HR by means of an operant conditioning procedure; Ss appear to learn better when they do not infer correctly what the response is that they are controlling; the conditioned HR response is apparently not mediated by changes in breathing; and reinforcement, per se, is not adequate to lower HR.Keywords
This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
- LEARNED STABILIZATION OF CARDIAC RATEPsychophysiology, 1965
- A replication of operant conditioning of the GSR.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1963
- Operant Conditioning of Heart RateScience, 1962
- Operant heart rate conditioningThe Psychological Record, 1962
- Escape and Avoidance Conditioning in Human Subjects without Their Observation of the ResponseScience, 1959