Abstract
The nictitating membrane of New Zealand White rabbits was classically conditioned during normothermia and severe hypothermia. After 100 daily acquisition trials for 5 days, the severe hypothermic rabbits only had a mean of 2% conditioned responses in comparison to the 94% conditioned response performance reached by the normothermic rabbits on the 3rd day. The topography of the unconditioned response for the severe hypothermic rabbits consisted of a reduction in amplitude, longer latencies, and no habituation.
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References
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The authors are grateful to the Department of Psychology for purchasing the animals and to the University Research Committee for awarding a small grant to Ralph B. Hupka to assist in the purchase of rabbit cages. The experiment was conducted by the first author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M. A. degree.
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Shapson, D.B., Hupka, R.B. Effects of hypothermia on Pavlovian conditioning in the rabbit: I. Nictitating membrane response. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 7, 243–245 (1976). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03337177
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03337177