Biomaterial Database

Five-year retention of the classically conditioned eyeblink response in young adult, middle-aged, and older humans. 1998

P R Solomon, and D Flynn, and J Mirak, and M Brett, and N Coslov, and M Groccia

Department of Psychology, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts 01267, USA. psolomon@williams.edu

Human participants who 5 years earlier participated in studies of acquisition of the classically conditioned eyeblink response to a tone conditioned stimulus (CS) and an air puff unconditioned stimulus (UCS) returned to the laboratory to test for retention of the conditioned response (CR). Retention consisted of 20 tone CS-alone presentations. Young adult participants (23-31 years of age at the time of retention testing) showed good retention of the CR (45%), middle-aged participants (45-52 years) showed reduced retention (28%), and older participants (69-78 years) showed little evidence of retention (< 5%). Retention testing was followed by reacquisition of the CR in which the CS and the UCS were again paired. The ability to reacquire the CR also showed a decline with age. The data suggest that the CR can be retained over long intervals and that the degree of retention is age dependent.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D008875	Middle Aged	An adult aged 45 - 64 years.	Middle Age
D012153	Retention, Psychology	The persistence to perform a learned behavior (facts or experiences) after an interval has elapsed in which there has been no performance or practice of the behavior.	Psychological Retention,Retention (Psychology),Psychology Retention,Retention, Psychological
D003215	Conditioning, Eyelid	Reflex closure of the eyelid occurring as a result of classical conditioning.	Eyelid Conditioning,Conditionings, Eyelid,Eyelid Conditionings
D005260	Female		Females
D005500	Follow-Up Studies	Studies in which individuals or populations are followed to assess the outcome of exposures, procedures, or effects of a characteristic, e.g., occurrence of disease.	Followup Studies,Follow Up Studies,Follow-Up Study,Followup Study,Studies, Follow-Up,Studies, Followup,Study, Follow-Up,Study, Followup
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000293	Adolescent	A person 13 to 18 years of age.	Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths
D000328	Adult	A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available.	Adults
D000367	Age Factors	Age as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or the effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from AGING, a physiological process, and TIME FACTORS which refers only to the passage of time.	Age Reporting,Age Factor,Factor, Age,Factors, Age