Extinction of a classically conditioned G.S.R. as a function of awareness

Insight, defined as the ability to verbalize the stimulus-response contingency of acquisition has bsen found to be unrelated to the extinction of an operantly conditioned verbal response. In the present study, the authors classically conditioned a GSR response in thirty Ss without insight, divided them into insight and no-insight groups following acquisition, and ran extinction trials which demonstrated a positive relationship (P< 0.001) under these particular conditions. It was concluded that the role of insight in extinction is a complex function of mode of conditioning (classical vs. operant) and/or mode of response (voluntary vs. involuntary), and that further studies utilizing the classical-voluntary and operant-involuntary combinations will be needed to define that function.