Using 60 male psychiatric patients, the interaction between three levels of anxiety and note-taking as a reinforcer was explored within a verbal conditioning paradigm. Results showed a curvilinear relationship between anxiety and reinforcement with high-average anxiety subjects conditioning better than either high or low-average subjects This supported the authors' prediction and showed note-taking to be an effective reinforcer of verbal behavior in an interview situation. Unexpectedly, subjects of low-average anxiety who conditioned less well than those of high-average anxiety showed a larger drop in emission rate during extinction, dropping to a level significantly below initial baserate.
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