Following shock, rats exhibit a potentiated startle response to a sudden, loud noise. It has been suggested that this shock sensitization of the startle response can be used as a model preparation for studying unlearned fear. After reviewing the theoretical and empirical bases for this claim, the results of several recent studies that show that the shock sensitization of startle effect is actua...

We examined if emotional faces elicit physiological responses similar to pictures of emotional scenes. Forty one students viewed emotional scenes (negative, neutral, and positive) and emotional faces (angry, neutral, and happy). Heart rate, orbicularis oculi and electrodermal activity were measured continuously, and the startle reflex was elicited. Although the patterns of valence and arousal r...

The latency of the acoustic startle reflex in the rat is 8 msec, measured from tone onset to the beginning of the electromyographic response in the hindleg. This extremely short latency indicates that only a few synapses could be involved in some primary acoustic startle circuit. Acoustic startle is being used as a model system for studying habituation, sensitization, prepulse inhibition, class...

Aviation remains one of the safest modes transportation. However, an inappropriate response to unexpected event can lead flight incidents and accidents. Among several contributory factors, startle surprise, which or exacerbate pilot's state stress, are often cited. Unlike has been subject much study in context driving piloting, studies on surprise less numerous these concepts sometimes used int...

Fourteen individuals who stutter and 14 individuals who do not stutter were presented with 10 bursts of white noise to assess the magnitude of their eyeblink responses as a measure of temperament. Both the magnitude of the eyeblink response to the initial noise burst and the mean of the 10 responses were significantly greater for the stuttering group. The Taylor-Johnson Temperament Analysis (R....

BACKGROUND The genetic analysis of behavior in Drosophila melanogaster has linked genes controlling neuronal connectivity and physiology to specific neuronal circuits underlying a variety of innate behaviors. We investigated the circuitry underlying the adult startle response, using photoexcitation of neurons that produce the abnormal chemosensory jump 6 (acj6) transcription factor. This transc...

Bulimia nervosa (BN) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) co-occur at greater rates than chance and may have shared mechanisms of dysfunction. One of these proposed mechanisms is a hyper-responsive aversive system as indicated by heightened startle response to aversive stimuli. The present study examined this hypothesis using 2 types of aversive stimuli: disorder specific (e.g., high-caloric...

The startle response is composed by a set of reflex behaviors intended to prepare the organism to face a potentially relevant stimulus. This response can be modulated by several factors as, for example, repeated presentations of the stimulus (startle habituation), or by previous presentation of a weak stimulus (Prepulse Inhibition [PPI]). Both phenomena appear disrupted in schizophrenia that is...