Startle potentiation in aversive anticipation: Evidence for state but not trait effects

The present study was undertaken to determine whether aversiveness contributes to startle potentiation in anticipation of affective pictures above and beyond the effects of emotional arousal. Further, participants high in trait anxious apprehension, which is characterized by worry about the future,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychophysiology 2002-03, Vol.39 (2), p.254-258
Main Authors: NITSCHKE, JACK B., LARSON, CHRISTINE L., SMOLLER, MARIAN J., NAVIN, SARAH D., PEDERSON, ADRIAN J.C., RUFFALO, DANTE, MACKIEWICZ, KRISTEN L., GRAY, SHANNON M., VICTOR, ELISE, DAVIDSON, RICHARD J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Anticipation
Anticipatory anxiety
Anxiety - psychology
Anxious apprehension
Arousal - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Blinking - physiology
BRIEF REPORT
Emotion
Emotions - physiology
Humans
Individuality
Male
Reflex, Startle - physiology
Startle reflex
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Summary:The present study was undertaken to determine whether aversiveness contributes to startle potentiation in anticipation of affective pictures above and beyond the effects of emotional arousal. Further, participants high in trait anxious apprehension, which is characterized by worry about the future, were expected to show especially pronounced anticipatory startle responses. Startle blink reflex was measured during warning stimuli that predicted the valence of ensuing aversive/unpleasant, pleasant, or neutral pictures. Startle magnitude was larger in anticipation of aversive than of pleasant pictures and smallest in anticipation of neutral pictures. Enhanced startle potentiation was not found in anxious apprehension subjects. These data suggest that the aversive nature of stimuli contribute to the potentiation of startle above and beyond the effects of emotional arousal, which may be a universal phenomenon not modulated by individual differences.
ISSN:0048-5772
1540-5958
1469-8986
DOI:10.1111/1469-8986.3920254