** Low Priority -- Read when you get a spare minute! ** Miller and others did demonstrate that measures of autonomic activity were influenced by reinforcement. The important theoretical question was whether this control was achieved directly through operant conditioning of autonomic responses, or indirectly through operant conditioning of skeletal responses (e.g., tensing and relaxing your muscles can affect your blood pressure).
The eventual conclusion was that animals could not control autonomic responses while paralyzed. This has little practical importance to someone who wants to control their blood pressure through biofeedback training. Michael LAVIN wrote: > ** High Priority ** > > Doesn't the research of Miller and DiCara provide the basis for Biofeedback >training? mlavin > > =============================== > Michael J. Lavin | 716-375-2488 > Department of Psychology > St. Bonaventure University 14778 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Fax: 716-375-7618 > http://web.sbu.edu/psychology/lavin/ > Listen to: http://www.pagoo.com/signature/mlavin > =============================== > > >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 4:46:28 PM >>> > At 4:15 PM -0500 12/18/01, Stephen Black wrote: > >I find this startling. One of the > >hottest areas of research at one time now appears to have > >disappeared without a trace. Does this mean that no one cares > >whether operant conditioning of autonomic responses is possible > >any more? Is this what the DiCara-Miller debacle has done to the > >field? > > > >I have one recent textbook of learning (Leahey & Harris, Learning > >and Cognition, 4th ed. 1997) on my shelf. It has only a brief, > >confusing, and unconvincing discussion of the issue. OK, here's > >another: Pierce & Epling _Behavior Analysis and Learning, 2nd ed. > >1999. Amazingly, they cite the DiCara/Miller work almost entirely > >uncritically, reproducing the discredited Miller and DiCara > >(1967) figure showing heart-rate conditioning. All they say about > >the issue is that there have been "difficulties" and "Miller has > >even had problems replicating the results" (cite Miller & > >Dworkin, 1974, but not Dworkin & Miller, 1986!). They then > >conclude by affirming that operant conditioning of reflexive > >responses is possible. > > > >This seems an unsatisfactory account to me. It's beginning to > >look as though there's no acceptable evidence of operant > >conditioning of autonomic responses. Certainly not if a 1999 > >textbook has to go back to Miller and DiCara for support. > > I'm ashamed to admit that I missed the lack of a citation to Dworkin and > Miller (1984) in Pierce and Epling. I've used the text for a number of > years, and have some input into it. I'll ask the author (Dave Pierce) > whether there will be a change in the next edition. > > * PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] * > * Psychology Dept Minnesota State University, Mankato * > * 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001 ph 507-389-6217 * > * http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html * > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- ***************************************************************** * Mike Scoles * [EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Department of Psychology * voice: (501) 450-5418 * * University of Central Arkansas * fax: (501) 450-5424 * * Conway, AR 72035-0001 * * ********* http://www.coe.uca.edu/psych/scoles/index.html ******** --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
