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A Study of EEG and Autonomic Conditioning

ROBERT A. DAVIDOFF, MD; DAVID G. McDONALD, PhD

Arch Neurol. 1964;10(3):283-292.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Since Durup and Fessard¹ originally reported in 1935 that simple pairing of a sound and a light rendered the former stimulus effective in producing EEG desynchronization, numerous investigators^2-6 have shown effects suggesting conditioning of alpha blocking to a previously inadequate stimulus. The impression has been promulgated that conditioning of the alpha blocking response is easy and unequivocal. Recent investigations, particularly those related to the orienting response,^* suggest that another look should be taken at this area. Present data would appear to indicate that the alpha blocking responses reported are more likely manifestations of the reappearance of the orienting response to a novel stimulus, rather than true conditioning.

In support of this viewpoint Stern et al,⁸ using the conventional one-second interval between onset of conditional stimulus (CS) and onset of unconditional stimulus (UCS), demonstrated that the curve showing "alpha conditioning" looked more like an adaptation curve than a . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
SAN DIEGO, CALIF

From the US Navy Medical Neuropsychiatric Research Unit.

Footnotes
Submitted for publication June 29, 1963; accepted Oct 18.

Present address (Dr. Davidoff): Department of Neurology, The Mount Sinai Hospital, New York; present address (Dr. McDonald): Department of Psychiatry, University of Missouri Medical Center, Columbia, Mo.

This work was done at the US Naval Hospital, San Diego, and was supported by the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery under research task MR 005.12-2304.

The term "orienting reflex" (here used interchangeably with orienting response) was first introduced by Pavlov in 1910 and subsequently expanded to include the somatic, vegetative, and EEG components of the response to novel stimuli or to change in stimulus parameters.7

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