title: Startle potentiation in aversive anticipation: evidence for state but not trait effects.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706-1696, USA. jnitschke@facstaff.wisc.edu
authors.forename: Jack B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Nitschke
authors.forename: Christine L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.forename: Marian J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Smoller
authors.forename: Sarah D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Navin
authors.forename: Adrian J C
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Pederson
authors.forename: Dante
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ruffalo
authors.forename: Kristen L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Mackiewicz
authors.forename: Shannon M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.forename: Elise
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Victor
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Davidson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology*