Psychosomatic Medicine 24:177-186 (1962)
© 1962 American Psychosomatic Society

Inhibition of Urine Flow as a Component of the Conditional Defense Reaction

¹ Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, University of Arkansas Medical Center, Little Rock, Ark.

The present paper provides evidence concerning the conditioning of urine flow, motor responses, and heart rate changes. Two mongrel dogs with polyethylene tubes connected to miniature bladders were studied. It was found that the conditioning environment, in which noxious stimulation was given, acquired a marked inhibitory effect on urine flow even under conditions of massive water loading. An inhibition of urine flow evoked by the conditioning environment could be disinhibited by the actions of the experimenter, petting and talking to the dog. Heart rate and motor flexion responses to a painful stimulus conditioned more differentially, more specifically and more persistently than did rate of urine production. In one animal, the renal component of the conditional response disappeared after appearing to be firmly established. In the other animal, the renal responses showed only questionable evidence of differentiation between positive and negative signals. The conditional and unconditional responses to pain were similar as judged by changes in heart rate, motor responses, and urine flow.

It is clear from these experiments that a variety of stimuli affect urine flow, sight and presence of a person, an environment in which pain has previously been experienced, and an isolated segment of the environment, such as a tone repetitively presented in that environment. Also, emotional disruptions, which develop more or less spontaneously, may affect the course of conditioning.