Potentiation or diminution of discrete motor unconditioned responses (rabbit eyeblink) to an aversive Pavlovian unconditioned stimulus by two associative processes: Conditioned fear and a conditioned diminution of unconditioned stimulus processing.

In 2 experiments using the rabbit conditioned eyeblink preparation, the conditions under which a Pavlovian conditioned stimulus/stimuli (CS) potentiates or diminishes the unconditioned response (UCR) were examined. Results indicate that, after discrimination training (CS+ vs CS–), the CS+ diminished UCR amplitude at the training interstimulus interval (ISI). When CS+ trials were segregated into trials on which a conditioned response (CR) did or did not occur, the CS+ diminished the UCR when it elicited a CR, but not when a CR failed to occur. When the CS-unconditioned stimulus (UCS) interval was lengthened to 10 sec, the CS+ reliably potentiated the eyeblink UCR on CR trials but did not potentiate responding on trials on which a CR was absent. Results are discussed in terms of the modulatory effects and temporal properties of conditioned fear and an associatively produced decrement in UCS processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)