Classical conditioning of decreases in human systolic blood pressure.
Decrease in human systolic blood pressure of 4.35 mm Hg (range: 0 to 12 mm Hg) were classically conditioned in normal and hypertensive subjects using a delayed conditioning paradigm in which a 30-sec auditory stimulus (the conditioned stimulus) was followed immediately by tilting the subject 15degrees head-down to elicit small decreases in blood pressure. Conditioning occurred within five trials. A control group demonstrated that sensitization of the reflex by repeated tilting could not account for the blood-pressure decreases associated with the conditioned stimulus in experimental subjects.
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D001794:Blood Pressure; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D011187:Posture