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At least 973 records · Page 54Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Fear-potentiated startle in humans: effects of anticipatory anxiety on the acoustic blink reflex.

The effects of fear/anticipatory anxiety on the acoustic startle reflex were investigated in humans using a paradigm involving anticipation of electric shocks. The eyeblink component of the startle reflex, elicited by an abrupt auditory stimulus, was measured in 9 normal volunteers during either the anticipation of electric shocks (anticipatory anxiety) or periods in which no shocks were anticipated (safe period). The eyeblink was consistently higher in amplitude, and shorter in latency, during periods when the subjects anticipated shocks, compared to the safe periods. This effect could not be attributed solely to a reduction in habituation and was statistically significant before the subjects actually received any shock (a single 30 mA stimulation on the median nerve). These results indicate that anticipatory anxiety can be measured objectively in humans using the fear-potentiated startle reflex in a paradigm not actually requiring any shock. Because a great deal is known about the neuroanatomical and pharmacological mechanisms of fear-potentiated startle in laboratory animals, this test procedure may be especially useful in humans to investigate the neurobiological substrates of anxiety disorders and their pharmacological treatments.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1997

Fear and the startle reflex: blink modulation and autonomic response patterns in animal and mutilation fearful subjects.

The present study was designed to examine the pattern of startle reflex modulation and autonomic responses for individuals high in animal or blood-injury fear when viewing pictures of their feared objects. Sixteen individuals in each fear group and 16 low-fear control individuals viewed 32 color slides depicting fear-relevant, unpleasant but fear-unrelated, neutral, and pleasant scenes. Free viewing times were assessed in a second phase of the procedure as an index of avoidance behavior. Exposure to pictures of feared objects resulted in a consistent startle reflex potentiation and behavioral avoidance in both fear groups. This activation of the basic aversive system was independent of the autonomic pattern of the fear responses, which differed for the high-fear groups. These results suggest that the probe startle response indexes the organism's basic motivational disposition and add new information to the assessment of fear.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Spatial attention freezes during the attention blink.

A variant of the rapid serial visual presentation paradigm was used to display sequentially two lateral sequences of stimuli, one to the left and one to the right of fixation, embedding two pairs of target stimuli, T1 and T2. T1 was composed of a pair of alphanumeric characters, and subjects had either to ignore T1 or to encode T1 for a delayed response. T2 was a lateral square of a prespecified color. The square had a small gap in one side, and the task for this stimulus was to report which side had the gap. When subjects were required to ignore T1, the T2-locked ERP produced a clear N2pc, that is, a greater negativity at electrode sites contralateral to the position occupied by T2. This N2pc was followed by a sustained posterior contralateral negativity (SPCN). When subjects were required to monitor T1 in addition to T2, both the N2pc and the SPCN components amplitude depended on the difficulty of the task associated with T1. If T1 was composed of digits that had to be encoded for a delayed same/different judgment, both the N2pc and the SPCN components were entirely suppressed. Although attenuated, such components were present when T1 was composed of a pair of symbols that subjects could disregard. The results suggest that a set of mechanisms subserving the allocation of attention in the spatial domain, resulting in the N2pc, suffer significant interference from concurrent cognitive operations required to encode information into visual short-term memory.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Computed extraocular muscle activity during blinks.

The rotations and retractions of the eyeball due to co-contraction of the extraocular muscles are investigated using a model of the mechanics of the orbital plant. The hypothesis that the rotational movements are secondary to globe retraction is not supported.

Blinking↗