Classical Eyeblink Conditioning in Adulthood: Effects of Age and Interstimulus Interval on Acquisition in the Trace Paradigm

Effects of age and interstimulus interval (ISI) were examined in eyeblink classical conditioning with a trace paradigm. Sixty young adults were trained in Experiment 1 with 6 interstimulus intervals (ISIs): 400, 900, 1,200, 1,500, 1,800, and 2,100 ms. The purpose was to find an ISI value for humans that would result in nonoptimal acquisition. ISIs of 1,200 ms and longer were nonoptimal. Adults aged 17-81 years were trained in Experiment 2 with a nonoptimal 1,800-ms ISI in the trace paradigm. Young and middle-aged subjects demonstrated equivalent levels of acquisition, and only older subjects conditioned more poorly. Aging appears to affect conditioning in the long-ISI trace paradigm as well as in the short-ISI delay paradigm.