Irving Maltzman

Cognition and Event‐Related Potentials II. The Orienting Reflex and P300

This panel was expected to review the literature pertaining to the effects of novelty and surprise on E R P components, particularly the P300, and the literature on the orienting reflex (OR). This paper records the correspondence between members of the panel before the conference. I t consists of an edited version of the material that was circulated to the conference participants before the meeting. No major reconciliation of views resulted from the conference discussion, nor could one be expected, given the rather different perspectives adopted by the panelists. The issues presented raise questions that need to be considered by psychophysiologists. This paper, therefore,

Psychophysiology of sociopathy: Electrocortical measures

The CNV, visual AEP and resting EEG were analyzed in sociopaths and controls matched for age and sex. Twenty-seven male sociopaths were selected by psychiatric interview and special rating scale, restricted to Shipley-Hartford IQs of 115-145 and separated into young (x = 20.5 yr) and older (x = 35.3 yr) age groups. Subjects participated in forewarned reaction-time tasks in which the imperative stimulus was either an innocuous or noxious tone that the subject escaped by pressing a response key. Sociopaths and controls did not differ in reaction time, vertex and occipital AEP amplitude or latency, and power spectral density of the EEG. Contrary to previous findings, there also were no significant differences between sociopaths and controls in overall CNV amplitude or topography. However, while most controls showed increased CNV amplitude in the noxious tone condition as compared to the innocuous tone condition, older sociopaths showed no change, or decreased amplitudes.

Heart rate deceleration is not an orienting reflex; heart rate acceleration is not a defensive reflex.

Graham and Clifton (1966) proposed an integration of Sokolov’s theory of orienting and defensive reflexes with the stimulus intake/rejection dichotomy of the Laceys. This integration consisted of hypothesizing that heart rate deceleration is a measure of the orienting reflex, and that cardiac acceleration is a measure of the defensive reflex. This article demonstrates that Graham and Clifton failed to establish a valid integration of these two theories. This failure is a consequence of 1) their misconstruing Sokolov’s theory, and 2) an inaccurate and selective review of the research literature then available. Consideration of more recent research would seem to rule out the possibility that their thesis was correct in spite of these flaws in its derivation. Cardiac responding in the OR context thus remains open to further investigation and interpretation.

Aversive conditioning in the sociopath

Results of two experiments on differential conditioning of the skin conductance (SCR) in sociopaths and normal control subjects are described. In the first experiment it was found that an equal number of sociopaths and control subjects were aware of the conditioning contingency. However, only the normal subjects displayed reliable differential SCR conditioning. Sociopaths showed a dissociation between verbal learning and conditioning of a physiological change. The second experiment examined the differential conditioning of normal subjects and sociopaths in partial remission. The number of aware subjects in the two groups did not differ. Aware subjects in both groups showed differential SCR conditioning. Differential conditioning in sociopaths did not persist over trials as it did in control subjects. A deficiency in ACTH 4–10 as well as neurological dysfunctions were considered possible factors in the etiology of sociopathy. Further research on the relation of neuropeptides to the etiology and treatment of sociopathy is suggested.

Habituation of the GSR and digital vasomotor components of the orienting reflex as a consequence of task instructions and sex differences

Two studies are reported in which the effects of task instructions and sex differences on the GSR and digital vasomotor measures of the orienting reflex induced by innocuous words are examined. Instructions to perform an overt response to a tone significantly enhanced the GSR-OR to words preceding the occurrence of the tone, the task signal. No such effect was evident in the digital vasomotor response. A characteristic decline in responsivity to words was evident in the GSR but not in the vasomotor response which was relatively unresponsive. A sex difference, with males manifesting greater GSR responsivity, was found in most phases of the experiments. Less consistent sex differences were observed in the digital vasomotor response.

The OR and significance.

A brief review was conducted of past and current research and theory as well as future implications of the problem of significance and the OR. Research and theory in the field is judged to be at a choice point: advance to interesting and important problems integrated with biobehavioral research or enter a blind alley of pseudo-problems derived from computer metaphors and cognitive folk psychology.

Latent inhibition of the GSR conditioned to words

The GSR measure of the orienting reflex was obtained from 90 college students in a semantic conditioning and generalization experiment. Different groups received 0, 20, or 40 presentations of different words other than the CS word prior to the start of conditioning. Latent inhibition was manifested in differences in the CR peak attained by the three groups and the number of trials required to attain the peak. They also differed significantly in the magnitude of their responses to UCS omission during extinction. The three groups did not differ in the magnitude of their GSR to control words. It was concluded that conditioned attention theory as presently formulated cannot adequately account for all of these results. An alternative interpretation was offered in terms of a theory which asserts that classical conditioning of the GSR involves an active problem solving discovery process that leads to the generation of a voluntary OR. It is manifested in the form of a GSR-CR. Preconditioning habituation sessions serve as a masking task which interferes with successful problem solving, discovering the signal for the UCS.

Interest as a predeterminer of the GSR index of the orienting reflex

Abstract Participants in the experiment were selected from among the membership of three university recreational clubs, surfing, fishing, and chess. Participants were further restricted to those having an exclusive recreational interest. Sixteen students selected in this manner were shown slides depicting scenes related to each of the three interests as well as unrelated filler slides. Students displayed significantly larger GSRs to slides depicting their recreational interest as compared to the other recreations and the filler slides. Results were interpreted as reflecting the expression of an OR induced by a significant stimulus.

Novelty and significance as determiners of the GSR index of the orienting reflex

Fifty-six students in each of two groups heard an innocuous tone of constant interstimulus interval (ISI) repeatedly presented. Half the students were instructed to sit quietly and listen, whereas for half the students the tone was a signal in a reaction time experiment. The GSR was recorded continuously throughout the experiment. Following training with a constant ISI, the tone was presented in a temporal generalization test series with shorter and longer ISIs. Response speed manifested a symmetrical gradient of generalization on all generalization test series. The greater the change in ISI, the slower the response speed. On the first temporal generalization test, the GSR induced by the signal stimuli showed a symmetrical gradient, whereas generalization to nonsignificant stimuli was asymmetrical, with only longer ISIs showing increased GSR responsivity. Temporal generalization to the significant stimuli also developed an asymmetry after repeated training and generalization test series. These results suggest that the effects of novelty are at least in part dependent for their appearance upon the significance of the stimuli involved.

The Place of Facts in a World of Values

I was sitting in my office at UCLA one beautiful fall morning in 1976 when there was a knock on my door. I opened it to see a young man in a dark three-piece suit. Dressed like that I knew he wasn’t a student or a faculty member. Must be a book salesman, bibles or encylopedias; thought he was in the social sciences building. I was wrong on all counts. He handed me a summons. I was being sued for