ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on experiment that determines whether conditioned increases and decreases of systolic blood pressure could be obtained in curarized rats, using as a reward escape from, and/or avoidance of, an electric shock to the tail. The demonstration that it is possible to instrumentally condition blood pressure levels raises the possibility that abnormal cardiovascular responses may be learned as psychosomatic symptoms and contribute to the development of atypical profiles of autonomic reactivity to stress and cardiovascular-renal pathology. The results of the experiment indicate that it is possible to instrumentally train increases and decreases in systolic blood pressure independently of changes in heart rate. The fact that visceral responses are subject to instrumental learning means that the reinforcement of changes in them is not limited to unconditioned stimuli eliciting as an unconditioned response the specific change to be learned.
