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Clinical Neurophysiology : Official... Oct 2021
Topics: Acoustic Stimulation; Humans; Prepulse Inhibition; Reflex, Startle
PubMed: 34456163
DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2021.08.005 -
Journal of the Association For Research... Apr 2022Cross-modal plasticity occurs when the function of remaining senses is enhanced following deprivation or loss of a sensory modality. Auditory neural responses are...
Cross-modal plasticity occurs when the function of remaining senses is enhanced following deprivation or loss of a sensory modality. Auditory neural responses are enhanced in the auditory cortex, including increased sensitivity and frequency selectivity, following short-term visual deprivation in adult mice (Petrus et al. Neuron 81:664-673, 2014). Whether or not these visual deprivation-induced neural changes translate into improved auditory perception and performance remains unclear. As an initial investigation of the effects of adult visual deprivation on auditory behaviors, CBA/CaJ mice underwent binocular enucleation at 3-4 weeks old and were tested on a battery of learned behavioral tasks, acoustic startle response (ASR), and prepulse inhibition (PPI) tests beginning at least 2 weeks after the enucleation procedure. Auditory brain stem responses (ABRs) were also measured to screen for potential effects of visual deprivation on non-behavioral hearing function. Control and enucleated mice showed similar tone detection sensitivity and frequency discrimination in a conditioned lick suppression test. Both groups showed normal reactivity to sound as measured by ASR in a quiet background. However, when startle-eliciting stimuli were presented in noise, enucleated mice showed decreased ASR amplitude relative to controls. Control and enucleated mice displayed no significant differences in ASR habituation, PPI tests, or ABR thresholds, or wave morphology. Our findings suggest that while adult-onset visual deprivation induces cross-modal plasticity at the synaptic and circuit levels, it does not substantially influence simple auditory behavioral performance.
Topics: Acoustic Stimulation; Animals; Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; Hearing; Mice; Mice, Inbred CBA; Reflex, Startle
PubMed: 35084628
DOI: 10.1007/s10162-022-00835-5 -
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Jan 2022Play has been recognized as a complex and diverse set of behaviors that has been difficult to define. Play can range from rough and tumble play among rats to a human... (Review)
Review
Play has been recognized as a complex and diverse set of behaviors that has been difficult to define. Play can range from rough and tumble play among rats to a human child playing a computer game. Play has been understood to exist in multiple forms such as social, object, and locomotor (Burghardt, 2005). In this article we review the literatures on the neural basis of social play, on heart rate variability, on behavioral switching and set-shifting, on prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex, and on learning at the level of the basal ganglia. Each of these neuronal pathways, aside from heart rate variability, is rooted in the parafascicular nucleus of the thalamus, an important neural substrate for social play. We argue that social play optimally balances a number of opposing neural pathways by engaging systems involved in safety versus danger (heart rate variability), automatized reactions versus learned reactions to new stimuli (behavioral switching and set-shifting), and gating relevant versus less relevant stimuli (prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex). The idea that play, in addition to its role in interpersonal adaptation to social life, may have a central role in optimizing flexibility and creativity in individual response to novelty has been explored by previous authors (Huizinga, 1955; Spinka et al., 2001; Pellegrini et al., 2007; Pellis and Pellis, 2017). In this paper we explore the possible underlying neural basis for this function of play, having to do with balancing various neural networks, and in doing so propose an expanded understanding of the nature and function of social play.
Topics: Acoustic Stimulation; Animals; Neural Inhibition; Neural Pathways; Prepulse Inhibition; Rats; Reflex, Startle
PubMed: 34767879
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.11.005 -
Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology :... Nov 2019It has been well documented that a prepared response can be triggered at short latency following the presentation of a loud acoustic stimulus that evokes a reflexive... (Review)
Review
It has been well documented that a prepared response can be triggered at short latency following the presentation of a loud acoustic stimulus that evokes a reflexive startle response. Different hypotheses have been proposed for this so-called "StartReact" effect, although there is still much debate surrounding the physiological mechanisms involved in the observed reduction in reaction time (RT). In this review, we outline the various neurophysiological explanations underlying the StartReact effect and summarize the data supporting, and at times opposing, each possibility. Collectively, the experimental results do not unequivocally support a single explanation and we suggest the most parsimonious mechanism may involve a hybrid framework involving a distribution of neural pathways. Specifically, we propose that multiple node networks at the cortical, brainstem, and spinal levels are involved in response preparation and initiation, and the relative contributions of these structures depends on the type of stimulus delivered and the type of movement required. This approach may lead to greater understanding of the pathways involved in response preparation, initiation, and execution for both healthy and motor disordered populations.
Topics: Acoustic Stimulation; Female; Humans; Male; Movement; Reaction Time; Reflex, Startle
PubMed: 31688329
DOI: 10.1097/WNP.0000000000000582 -
Eye (London, England) Jan 2022
Topics: Humans; Ophthalmology; Postoperative Complications; Reflex, Startle; Surgeons
PubMed: 34326498
DOI: 10.1038/s41433-021-01703-x -
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Jun 2015Recently, there has been an increase in studies evaluating startle reflexes and StartReact, many in tasks involving postural control and gait. These studies have... (Review)
Review
Recently, there has been an increase in studies evaluating startle reflexes and StartReact, many in tasks involving postural control and gait. These studies have provided important new insights. First, several experiments indicate a superimposition of startle reflex activity on the postural response during unexpected balance perturbations. Overlap in the expression of startle reflexes and postural responses emphasizes the possibility of, at least partly, a common substrate for these two types of behavior. Second, it is recognized that the range of behaviors, susceptible to StartReact, has expanded considerably. Originally this work was concentrated on simple voluntary ballistic movements, but gait initiation, online step adjustments and postural responses can be initiated earlier by a startling stimulus as well, indicating advanced motor preparation of posture and gait. Third, recent experiments on StartReact using TMS and patients with corticospinal lesions suggest that this motor preparation involves a close interaction between cortical and subcortical structures. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview on startle reflexes, StartReact, and their interaction with posture and gait.
Topics: Brain; Gait; Humans; Muscle, Skeletal; Postural Balance; Pyramidal Tracts; Reflex, Startle; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
PubMed: 25882206
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.04.002 -
Psychophysiology Dec 2022Trace fear conditioning is an important research paradigm to model aversive learning in biological or clinical scenarios, where predictors (conditioned stimuli, CS) and...
Trace fear conditioning is an important research paradigm to model aversive learning in biological or clinical scenarios, where predictors (conditioned stimuli, CS) and aversive outcomes (unconditioned stimuli, US) are separated in time. The optimal measurement of human trace fear conditioning, and in particular of memory retention after consolidation, is currently unclear. We conducted two identical experiments (N = 28, N = 28) with a 15-s trace interval and a recall test 1 week after acquisition, while recording several psychophysiological observables. In a calibration approach, we explored which learning and memory measures distinguished CS+ and CS- in the first experiment and confirmed the most sensitive measures in the second experiment. We found that in the recall test without reinforcement, only fear-potentiated startle but not skin conductance, pupil size, heart period, or respiration amplitude, differentiated CS+ and CS-. During acquisition without startle probes, skin conductance responses and pupil size responses but not heart period or respiration amplitude differentiated CS+ and CS-. As a side finding, there was no evidence for extinction of fear-potentiated startle over 30 trials without reinforcement. These results may be useful to inform future substantive research using human trace fear conditioning protocols.
Topics: Humans; Fear; Conditioning, Classical; Memory; Conditioning, Operant; Learning; Reflex, Startle; Extinction, Psychological
PubMed: 35675529
DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14119 -
Psychophysiology Dec 2015Previous research indicates that predictive cues can dampen subsequent defensive reactions. The present study investigated whether effects of cuing are specific to...
Previous research indicates that predictive cues can dampen subsequent defensive reactions. The present study investigated whether effects of cuing are specific to aversive stimuli, using modulation of the blink startle reflex as a measure of emotional reactivity. Participants viewed pictures depicting violence, romance/erotica, or mundane content. On half of all trials, a cue (color) predicted the content of the upcoming picture; on the remaining trials, scenes were presented without a cue. Acoustic startle probes were presented during picture viewing on trials with predictive cues and trials without a cue. Replicating previous studies, blink reflexes elicited when viewing violent pictures that had not been preceded by a cue were potentiated compared to uncued mundane scenes, and reflexes were attenuated when viewing scenes of erotica/romance that had not been cued. On the other hand, reflex potentiation when viewing scenes of violence (relative to mundane scenes) was eliminated when these pictures were preceded by a predictive cue, whereas scenes of romance prompted reliable reflex attenuation regardless of whether pictures were cued or not. Taken together, the data suggest that cuing elicits an anticipatory coping process that is specific to aversive stimuli.
Topics: Adolescent; Blinking; Cues; Emotions; Female; Humans; Male; Photic Stimulation; Reflex; Reflex, Startle; Young Adult
PubMed: 26399464
DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12546 -
International Journal of... May 2017Startle reflex and affect-modified startle reflex are used as indicators of defensive reactivity and emotional processing, respectively. The present study investigated...
Startle reflex and affect-modified startle reflex are used as indicators of defensive reactivity and emotional processing, respectively. The present study investigated the heritability of both the startle blink reflex and affect modification of this reflex in a community sample of 772 twins ages 14-15years old. Subjects were shown affective picture slides falling in three valence categories: negative, positive and neutral; crossed with two arousal categories: high arousal and low arousal. Some of these slides were accompanied with a loud startling noise. Results suggested sex differences in mean levels of startle reflex as well as in proportions of variance explained by genetic and environmental factors. Females had higher mean startle blink amplitudes for each valence-arousal slide category, indicating greater baseline defensive reactivity compared to males. Startle blink reflex in males was significantly heritable (49%), whereas in females, variance was explained primarily by shared environmental factors (53%) and non-shared environmental factors (41%). Heritability of affect modified startle (AMS) was found to be negligible in both males and females. These results suggest sex differences in the etiology of startle reactivity, while questioning the utility of the startle paradigm for understanding the genetic basis of emotional processing.
Topics: Acoustic Stimulation; Adolescent; Analysis of Variance; Arousal; Blinking; Child; Electromyography; Environment; Female; Humans; Male; Models, Genetic; Photic Stimulation; Reflex, Startle; Sex Characteristics; Twins, Dizygotic; Twins, Monozygotic
PubMed: 27666795
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2016.09.009 -
Parkinsonism & Related Disorders Feb 2022Latah is a culture-specific syndrome characterized by exaggerated startle response, echolalia, palilalia, echopraxia, coprolalia, forced obedience and involuntary... (Review)
Review
Latah is a culture-specific syndrome characterized by exaggerated startle response, echolalia, palilalia, echopraxia, coprolalia, forced obedience and involuntary vocalization in response to startle. Latah is stimulus-induced and is associated with behavior and psychiatric features. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive description on latah from a regional perspective based on previous literature and clinical experiences and highlight the clinical characteristics of latah from a movement disorders perspective. The pathophysiology of latah is complex and poorly understood although psychological stressors have been implicated. In view of the distressing psychosocial impact of latah, this neuropsychiatric startle syndrome warrants further studies to understand the pathophysiology and identify the appropriate treatments.
Topics: Humans; Movement Disorders; Reflex, Startle; Somatoform Disorders; Stiff-Person Syndrome
PubMed: 35120841
DOI: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2022.01.013