Book chapter
8 Using pre-pulse inhibition to study attentional capture: A warning about pre-pulse correlations
Advances in Psychology, pp.177-189
Elsevier Science & Technology
2001
DOI: 10.1016/S0166-4115(01)80010-8
Abstract
Many abrupt stimuli evoke an involuntary startle response. The magnitude of this reflex can be reliably reduced by presenting a less-intense stimulus—called a “pre-pulse”—just prior to the startle stimulus. This reduction in the magnitude of startle because of a preceding stimulus is known as “pre-pulse inhibition” or “reflex modification.” This chapter focuses on the results obtained from tone/tap/blink experiments on humans—where the pre-pulse is a quiet tone, the startle stimulus is a tap to the glabella, the reflex is an eye-blink, and the subjects are people. The amount of inhibition depends on a variety of factors, including the specific delay between the two stimuli; the rise-time, duration, and intensity of the pre-pulse; whether the pre-pulse is attended or ignored; and the emotional or clinical state of the subject. The specific time-course of pre-pulse inhibition has been explored by systematically varying the stimulus-onset-asynchrony (SOA) between the pre-pulse tone and the startling tap. The studies of the time-course of pre-pulse inhibition have examined the latency of the startle reflex and shown that this can be affected by a preceding tone.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- 8 Using pre-pulse inhibition to study attentional capture: A warning about pre-pulse correlations
- Creators
- J. Toby MordkoffHilary Barth
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Publication Details
- Advances in Psychology, pp.177-189
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science & Technology
- DOI
- 10.1016/S0166-4115(01)80010-8
- ISSN
- 0166-4115
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2001
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9984213264002771
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