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disappointed relative to the reward trials. Verbal report
ratings illustrated that subjects felt less pleasant and
less in control during the no-reward compared to the reward
trials.
A second explanation for the lack of increased SCRs
during the reward compared to the no-reward trials is
related to the arousal level of the subjects. As mentioned
in the literature review, SCR is highly correlated with
arousal ratings (Greenwald, Cook, & Lang, 1989) Also, as
mentioned in the design issues section of the literature
review, one of the concerns about the reward task was that
it was not as arousing as the shock task. Comparison of
arousal ratings between the shock and reward conditions
reveal that, in fact, subjects rated the shock condition as
more arousing than the reward condition. As a consequence,
it is possible that lack of increased SCRs during the reward
compared to the reward-control trials is the result of the
lack of arousal during the reward condition.
Moreover, Simons, Ohman, and Lang (1979) found that
subjects' SCR did not differ during anticipation of high
interest and low interest when subjects were not asked to
respond motorically. In this experiment subjects are not
asked to respond in any way following the anticipatory
period. Thus, the lack of SCRs during the reward compared
to the no-reward trials may be related to the lack of a
motoric response set.