Effects of Varying Signaling and Intensity of Shock on an Unconfounded and Novel Electrodermal Autonomic Index in a Variable and Long-Interval Classical Trace Conditioning Paradigm

After a review of the evidence against the role of autonomic responses in the mediation of informational cognitive control, which occurs when merely signaling an inescapable shock reduces perceived aversiveness, it was noted that verbal indices of aversiveness had yielded results which were contrary to the informational control notion itelf. On the other hand, the fact that signaled shocks elicit smaller autonomic responding than unsignaled shocks still does not support the notion, because of confounding through response interference. In the present experiment with 48 Ss, electrodermal recovery time was examined as an unconfounded and novel autonomic index of the relative aversiveness of signaled and unsignaled shocks in a specially adapted form of the differential conditioning paradigm. This autonomic index was sensitive to the UCS-intensity manipulation, but despite this sensitivity, both this autonomic index and other verbal indices showed that, contrary to the informational-control notion, signaling does not reduce shock aversiveness.