Effects of activity and immobility conditioning upon subsequent heart-rate conditioning in curarized rats.

Assigned 40 female Long-Evans hooded rats to experimental or yoked-control groups receiving activity conditioning in a running wheel or immobility conditioning in a small open field. Following 10 days under these procedures, all Ss were curarized and punished either for the emission of high or low heart rates. The pretraining procedures contributed significantly more to the heart-rate changes observed under curare than did the reinforcement contingencies imposed under this latter condition. Implications are discussed with respect to the specificity of operant cardiovascular conditioning and the general issue of somatocardiovascular relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)