title: Pre-extinction of sensory preconditioned electrodermal activity.
abstract: In the present study, sensory preconditioning of human electrodermal activity was demonstrated. In the first phase of the experiment, two pairs of neutral pictures of human faces were presented (A/B and C/D) sequentially. In the second phase, one picture of one pair was immediately followed by an electrocutaneous stimulus (B+), and one picture of the other pair was not (D-). In the third phase the other picture of each pair (A and C) was tested. The effect of A and C alone presentations (pre-extinction) between the first and the second phase was investigated. When only those participants that showed reliable B+/D- differentiation were considered, the extinction group did not show stronger conditioned electrodermal activity to A than to C, whereas the control group did. These findings suggest that sensory preconditioning of anticipatory/preparatory responding only occurs when the pre-conditioned stimulus (A) actually predicts the conditioned stimulus (B).
authors.affiliation: University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. deb.vansteenwegen@psy.kuleuven.ac.be
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vansteenwegen
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Crombez
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baeyens
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hermans
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Eelen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal; D001245:Association Learning; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual