The influence of visual information on habituation of the electrodermal and the visual orienting reaction

Abstract

In this study the influence of the information value of visual stimuli on habituation of the visual orienting reaction (VOR) and the skin conductance reaction (SCR) was investigated. 28 subjects received two blocks of 14 trials. Half the subjects received the higher information condition first and then the lower information, the other half received the conditions in the reversed order. Subjects fixated the stimuli with the higher information value longer than the stimuli with the lower information value during the 14 trials and habituated slower. This effect of information was absent in the second block and VOR habituation was also faster in this block. There was no difference in SCR amplitudes nor in SCR habituation scores between the two information conditions, neither in block 1 nor in block 2. The results of this study are discussed in relation with a two-stage model of the OR.