William W. Grings

An examination of methods for producing relaxation during short-term laboratory sessions

Abstract Reductions in psychological and physiological correlates of tension produced by various muscle relaxation training techniques were examined during a short-term laboratory session. Two studies are described involving a combined total of one hundred subjects receiving either abbreviated progressive relaxation, visual, auditory, or tactile electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback procedures. The Anxiety Differential was administered before and after the laboratory session. Heart rate, respiratory rate, skin conductance, systolic blood pressure, and frontalis and dominant forearm extensor EMG measures were obtained before, during, and after administration of relaxation training. Results indicated feedback in the tactile modality to produce overall reductions in tension comparable to those produced by progressive relaxation. Overall reductions in tension displayed by both progressive relaxation and tactile feedback were generally greater than reductions shown by visual or auditory feedback procedures. Interpretations suggest that certain forms of EMG feedback may offer an alternative to progressive relaxation techniques for producing short-term reductions in tension. Feedback modality is further indicated as a potentially important variable during relaxation training using the EMG feedback technique.

Compound stimulus transfer

An earlier study examining transfer of conditioned response from compound stimuli to component stimuli was repeated with design changes to emphasize differences among responses to the components. Discrimination conditioning of the GSR to colored light pairs was used with 30 student Ss. The previous results, which showed a lack of transfer of differential responding from acquisition on stimulus pairs to tests on single components, were replicated. Data are presented to show that the results are not due to lack of acquisition training.In an experiment to determine what mnemonic techniques Ss would employ in learning a list of 19 unrelated nouns, Ss used the first-letter (FL), clustering (C), and descriptive-story (DS) techniques. In a second experiment three groups applied the mnemonic techniques, and recall was compared to a no-mnemonic condition. No significant differences were found at the immediate-recall test; however, 1 week later the DS and C techniques produced significantly higher levels of recall, while 8 weeks later only the DS technique produced a significantly higher level of recall.

Autonomic classical conditioning as a function of awareness of stimulus contingencies

Two groups of 32 college students were presented compound CSs (lights and tones presented simultaneously) during a classical conditioning paradigm. By means of a masking task and verbal instructions, a partially informed group was made aware of only the visual CSs contingency with the UCS, while a fully informed group was made aware of both the visual and auditory contingencies. Autonomic indices of conditioning (electrodermal responses, heart rate, and digital pulse volume) were later measured to the individual component CSs and to various compound CSs. It was found that: (1) the partially informed group exhibited conditioning exclusively to the visual CS+ and to compounds which included the visual CS+, while (2) the fully informed group exhibited conditioning to both visual and auditory CS+s. The results confirm the importance of awareness in human autonomic discrimination classical conditioning. It is suggested that human autonomic conditioning may be usefully conceptualized as an information processing task with the autonomic indices of conditioning reflecting central cognitive processes.

Instrumental Modification of Autonomic behavior

The GSR to a signal light was observed as a function of contingent receipt or avoidance of shock. An “avoidance” paradigm appears to increase frequency of response to the CS and to reduce average response magnitude. A “punishment” paradigm appears to decrease frequency of responding and to reduce average magnitude of response even more than the avoidance paradigm.

Component to compound stimulus transfer

Electrodermal responses to pairs of visual stimuli were tested after differential conditioning of the single or component stimuli. On the first test trial, magnitudes tended to be ordered according to principles of response summation. On later trials, extinction variation interacted significantly with transfer variation.

Problems of magnitude measurement with multiple GSRS.

In long delay or trace conditioning more than one maximum for the GSR response curve is obtained. CRs expressed as magnitudes of response may employ either stimulus onset points or response onset points as base levels from which to measure changes (GSRs). Data are presented to demonstrate that different magnitude measures (those from CS onset and from CR onset) may yield different sensitivity to independent variation and different values for empirically defined conditioning phenomena. Further data show that responses occurring in close succession during a trial may be interdependent.

Transfer of response from compound conditioned stimuli

Forty Ss were given discrimination conditioning of the GSR with one CS (a pair of colored dots) accompanied by a shock, and a second CS (also a pair of colored dots) not accompanied by shock. An acquisition series was followed by a transfer test series including the original compound stimuli, the individual components, and new compounds formed by different pairing of the components. Discrimination conditioning was established but differential responding did not transfer to the components. Maximum response was obtained to new combinations (pairs) of the original components.

Autonomic responses to words modified by sensitizing and conditioning experiences

Abstract Electrodermal reaction (GSRs) were observed during presentation of four verbal phrases suggesting electrical stimulation (STRONG SHOCK, MEDIUM SHOCK, WEAK SHOCK, NO SHOCK). When the stimuli were first presented they elicited large reactions which did not show differentiation among the stimuli. After experience of a range of actual shocks (not accompanied by the verbal phrases) presentation of words alone led to overall reduced reaction, but relative magnitudes of response differed according to the intensity suggested by the words. A conditioning series which paired the verbal signal with suggested stimulus (shock) intensity increased magnitudes of reaction to the words alone and maintained them in accord with physical stimulus differences. If, however, a signal was followed by a shock strength different from that signaled, reaction to the shock itself was larger than when the shock was appropriately signaled. Differences on the first test situation (before any shock experiences) and after conditioning experiences were found to vary between suggestible and nonsuggestible persons. The experiment is discussed as an illustration of the large number of variables which must be controlled or accounted for in attempts to modify magnitude oo autonomic (emotional) reactions to stimuli suggesting noxious experience. It is discussed primarily in the context of human learning or response modification through learning “therapies”.

A system for providing tactile EMG biofeedback

This report describes a flexible and inexpensive biofeedback system for providing discrete pulses against the skin surface at a frequency proportional to the level of activity from selected muscle groups. The primary components consist of a voltage controlled pulse generator and a tactile transducer. Other system capabilities include the production of digital information for recording devices and the providing of pulsed auditory EMG biofeedback. The system may be particularly applicable for the experimental reduction of psychological and muscle tension.

Compound stimulus transfer among forward and backward conditioning situations

Sixty Ss were assigned to five independent groups of a three-stage experiment. In Stage 1, four groups received forward conditioning, and a fifth was an unpaired control. In Stage 2, a new CS received forward conditioning, backward conditioning, or unpaired presentations. In Stage 3, responses to components and compounds made up of CSs from Stages 1 and 2 were tested. Groups did not differ on a pretest. All forward groups conditioned in Stage 1. In Stage 2, forward and unpaired groups differed, but backward groups did not differ from either forward or unpaired groups. In Stage 3, the forward-forward group differed significantly from the unpaired group. Backward groups did not differ from the forward group but differed at a marginally significant level from the unpaired group.