THE POSITIVE CONDITIONAL SALIVARY REFLEX IN PSYCHONEUROTIC PATIENTS
JACOB E. FINESINGER M. D.1,
GEORGE F. SUTHERLAND M. D.1, , and
FRANCES F. MCGUIRE A. B.1
1 The Department of Diseases of the Nervous System of the Harvard Medical School and the Psychiatric Department of the Massachusetts General Hospital.
1. A positive conditional salivary reflex to an auditory stimulus was developed in 10 psychoneurotic patients. The stimulus was a metronome 150 beats per minute reenforced by lemon juice.
2. The salivary responses were designated as positive when the action of the metronome was accompanied by an increase in salivation over the rate immediately preceding the stimulus
3. When the results for the first prolonged stimulus of the day were studied for each patient, the positive responses appeared in from 67 to 83 per cent of the cases, the mean value of the positive reflex for the 10 patients being 77 per cent.
4. The mean value of the positive response for 15 seconds was 4.9 drops or 0.1 cc.
