RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: Semantic conditioning of salivary pH was investigated as a new paradigm for binary communication. METHODS AND MATERIALS: In a sample of eleven healthy participants, affirmation or negation of presented statements were paired with milk and lemon to condition changes in salivary pH level. RESULTS: Significant differences between the conditioned reactions were found at the group level. However, the analysis of pH changes on single-subject level revealed significant differences between affirmative and negative responses to the presented statements only for isolated samples in few participants. When classifying a change in pH value of more than .01 as correct response to a statement, only responses to affirmative statements reached mean accuracies of more than 60%. CONCLUSION: Improvements in the paradigm are necessary before testing it with the critical target population of patients to prove its profit for basic yes/no communication in case no other reliable means of communication could be preserved.