Electrodermal activity as an indicator of information processing in a nonaversive differential classical conditioning paradigm

Most investigations of information processing in human Pavlovian autonomic conditioning focussed on the role of awareness of the contingency of the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (UCS). While in these studies only the qualitative information of the CS (UCS occurring vs not occurring) was varied, the present experiment was designed to vary the quantitative information of the CS. In a differential conditioning paradigm, using a letter reproduction task as nonaversive UCS, electrodermal responses to different degrees of CS information content were investigated. Twenty subjects experienced two different conditions in a within subject design. In one condition only the number of letters used in the following UCS was presented as CS+, while in the other condition the CS already contained the whole UCS information. Both conditions led to significant differences in magnitudes of electrodermal responding.