The Orienting Response (OR) and EDA By: Jennifer Arpin

1
The Orienting Response (OR) and EDA

• By Jennifer Arpin
• Francesca Civitarese
• Dana Megowan

2
Orienting Response

• Pavlov (1927)
• Reflex that brings an immediate response to
  changes in environment
• Noticed dogs briefly oriented ears and eyes to
  new arrivals in laboratory

3

• Lynn (1966)
• Detailed physiological changes when new stimuli
• Pupil dilation, increased EMG activity, increased
  frequency and lower amplitude EEG, increase in
  amplitude and decrease in frequency of
  respiration, slower heart rate, changes in EDA

4
Neuronal Model

• Sokolov (1963)
• Theory which incoming stimuli are compared with
  representations of past stimuli in cortex of
  brain
• If new stimuli does not match representation,
  orienting response occurs
• If it does match, no response necessary

5
Stimuli Distance and Change

• Berstein, Taylor, Austen, Nathanson, and Scarpeli
  (1971)
• Measured the response of animals where patterned
  visual stimuli were either stationed or appeared
  to move towards or away from subjects
• Frequency and amplitude of SCRs were greater
  under apparent motion than when stationary
• Changes more prolonged when objects approached
  then recede

6

• Yaremko, Blair, and Leckart (1970)
• Examined OR with respect to change from expect
  stimulus
• Results greater the change of expected
  stimulus, greater change in OR

7
The Orienting Response (OR) and EDA

• Habituation, Stimulus Significance, and the
  Information Processing Model

8
Discussing

• Habituation and research supporting its use in
  orientation
• The role of stimulus significance in the
  orienting response (OR) and research support
• The information processing model as another
  approach to the OR

9
Habituation

• An example of non associative learning
• Habituation is repeatedly experiencing a
  stimulus that then results in a reduced
  behavioral response
• Example?
• putting on your clothes. The weight of your
  clothes is evident when you first put them on,
  but after a while, you become habituated to the
  weight and no longer notice it consciously.

10
Habituation

• What if you IMAGINE experiencing a stimulus?
  Will this produce habituation effects?
• Yaremko, Glanville, and Leckhart (1972) Study
• Group I imagines hearing a tone, then hears the
  actual tone.
• Group II imagines seeing a light, then hears
  tone
• Group III control
• RESULTS Greater habituation was seen in the
  tone/tone group as opposed to the light/tone or
  control groups
• So? Mental imagery facilitates habituation.

11
Habituation

• What about the frequency of the tone?
• OGorman (1973) said that the OR only varies in
  response to changes in intensity or the category
  of stimulus (I.e. light, tone, electrical shock)
• Siddle and Heron (1978) tested orienting response
  to changes in tone frequencies.
• Study After habituation to a 1000Hz tone, new
  tones of 670Hz and 380Hz were presented
• RESULTS Magnitude of OR was greatest in large
  frequency differences and significant differences
  were found for all frequencies tested.
• So? This contradicts OGorman b/c the OR showed
  response to frequency of tone.

12
The Role of Stimulus Significance

• Bernstein (1979) Maltzman (1979)
• stimulus significance (in addition to novelty)
  is important for orienting reponses
• Bernstein stimulus uncertainty and significance
  will start the OR
• Maltzman a cortical set before the
  presentation of stimuli influences the OR

13
The Role of Stimulus Significance

• Wingard Maltzman (1980) supporting cortical
  set theory
• Determined recreational activities influence
  orienting.
• EXAMPLE chess, surfing, and fishing.
• Larger OR in slides showing their recreational
  activity as opposed to neutral or other
  activities
• So? Suggests that the prior experience evidence
  shows that familiar stimuli lead to the OR and
  not unfamiliar ones

14
The Role of Stimulus Significance

• Ben-Shakar 1996
• Supported the Bernstein/Maltzman theory
• Study Stimulus significance and novelty were
  used independantly and OR was measured
• RESULTS OR changed in response to stimulation
  (novelty) differences only when paired with
  significant stimuli
• So? Stimulus novelty and significance play a
  role in eliciting the orientation response

15
The Information Processing Model

• A New Approach to the Orienting Reponse
• Ohman (1979) the OR is produced only when the
  stimulus does not find a match in the subjects
  short term memory
• Then, the long term memory is scanned
• If no match, a novel stimulus is recorded, thus
  eliminating the orienting response for this
  stimulus if it is repeated

16
The Information Processing Model

• Plouffe Stelmack (1984) study supporting Ohman
• Study OR for pictures using free-recall
• RESULTS subjects show larger responses to
  recalled pictures, especially uncommon ones
• Also, pictures NOT recalled produced smaller OR
  than those not shown in study phase showing
  stimulus priming (I.e. stopping the OR when a
  stimulus match is made)
• So? Supports dependance on novel stimuli recall
  for the orienting response to occur

17
The Orienting Response (OR) and EDA

• Stimulus Omission and the Effects of Alcohol on
  the Orienting Response.

18
Overview

• The Orienting Response in the absence of an
  expected stimulus.
• Robert J. Barrys hypothesis and its testing.
• The effects of alcohol on the OR with an omission
  of the stimulus.
• Lyvers and Maltzmans experiment.

19
The Orienting Response in the absence of an
expected stimulus.

• Evgeny N. Sokolov was the first to describe EDA
  and EEG changes when an omitted stimulus was
  scheduled to appear.
• EDA and EEG changes similar to the P300 response
  to an omitted stimulus.
• Using a Sokolovian explanation we might say that
  an individual does not have a neuronal model for
  the omitted stimulus.

20
Barrys Hypothesis

• Barry hypothesized that this missing stimulus
  effect was due to the emission of a voluntary OR
  as compared to a reflexive or involuntary OR.
• Led to the prediction that a voluntary OR would
  be slower than a true OR.

21
Testing the Hypothesis

• Barry and J.G. OGorman worked in conjunction to
  test Barrys hypothesis.
• The two presented a long series of visual
  stimuli, at regular intervals to the participants
  of the study.
• Throughout the test the stimuli was omitted.
• Barrys hypothesis is correct.
• The two concluded that the latency increase is
  due to the time taken from the subjects
  evaluation of the stimulus omission in contrast
  to the quicker process involved when the OR is
  involuntary.

22
The Effects of Alcohol on the Orienting Response
23
Alcohols Effects

• Difficulty walking
• Blurred vision
• Slurred speech
• Slowed reaction times
• Impaired memory
• Has a selective depressive effect on inhibitory
  areas of the frontal cortex

24
Effects of Alcohol on the Orienting Response

• Lyvers and Maltzman first tested the effects of
  alcohol on SC orienting responses.
• The SCR evoked by novel signal, novel non-signal,
  and common non-signal stimuli was studied in
  subgroups of male and female social drinkers.
• Control Condition Tonic only
• Experimental Condition Tonic with vodka
  sufficient to raise blood alcohol levels to .05

25
Results

• Alcohol enhanced SCRs were produced by the signal
  tones.
• There was an increase in the number of
  spontaneous SCRs and a greater error rate.
• Alexander Luria showed that the SCR orienting
  response is absent in patients with massive
  lesions to the frontal cortex.

26
References

• Andreassi, J. L., (2000). Psychophysiology Human
  Behavior and Physiological Response. London
  Laurence Erlbaum Associates.
• http//www.brain-dynamics.net/publications/pub_fil
  es/budd_98_N1decrement.pdf
• Winokur, G., Guze, S., Stewart, M., Pfeiffer, E.,
  Stern, J., Hornung, F., (1995). Association of
  Conditionability with Degree of Reactivity in
  Psychiatric Patients. Science gt New Series, Vol.
  129, No. 3360 pp. 1423-1424