Startle response and prepulse inhibition modulation by positive- and negative-induced affect

Abstract

The startle response, a set of reflex behaviours intended to prepare the organism to face a potentially threatening stimulus, can be modulated by several factors as, for example, changes in affective state, or previous presentation of a weak stimulus (a phenomenon termed Pre-Pulse Inhibition [PPI]). In this paper we analyse whether the induction of positive or negative affective states in the participants modulates the startle response and the PPI phenomenon. The results revealed a decrease of the startle response and an increase of the PPI effect when registered while the participants were exposed to pleasant images (Experiment 1), and an increase of the startle response and of the PPI effect when they were exposed to a video-clip of unpleasant content (Experiment 2). These data are interpreted considering that changes in affective states correlate with changes in the startle reflex intensity, but changes in PPI might be the result of an attentional process.