Anxiety and strength of the UCS as determiners of the amount of eyelid conditioning.

Abstract

Two groups of 50 subjects each chosen on the basis of extreme scores on a test of manifest anxiety were run in a conditioned eyelid situation. Half of each group was given a strong puff of air or a weak one as the unconditioned stimulus. The conditioned stimulus was an increase in brightness of a luminous disc. The anxious-strong puff and anxious-weak puff groups displayed a significantly greater amount of conditioning than the corresponding non-anxious groups. The differences between the strong- and weak-puff groups were not significant. "The results are discussed in terms of Hull's constructs of habit (SHR) and drive strength (D)." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)