Cognitive and personality analysis of startle reactivity in a large cohort of healthy males.
Subjects with low/undetectable startle are usually excluded from startle studies but few reports not confounded by this factor, show reduced startle in healthy impulsive subjects, or clinical populations with disorders of affect and impulsivity but also in schizophrenia and its prodrome. We examined the relationship of startle reactivity including startle "non-responding" status to cognitive and affective personality traits in a large and ethnically/demographically homogeneous cohort of healthy males from the LOGOS study, Heraklion, Crete. Startle reactivity was monotonically related to sensitivity to reward (higher in "non-responders", lower in strong responders). In addition, "non-responders" had poorer strategy, working memory and sustained attention performance compared to responder tertile groups. More research in clinical and high risk populations is required to examine if low/undetectable startle reactivity is a valuable intermediate phenotype for disorders of affect and impulsivity. It is possible that the "non-responsive" status may capture disease related features such as executive dysfunction.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece; Department of Psychology, University of Crete, Rethymno, Crete, Greece. Electronic address: sgiakoumaki@uoc.gr.
Stella G
SG
Giakoumaki
Panos
P
Roussos
Eva-Maria
EM
Tsapakis
Erasmia
E
Koiliari
Emmanouil
E
Pasparakis
Chrysoula
C
Zouraraki
Panos
P
Bitsios
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology*; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology*; D012201:Reward
Acoustic startle reflex; Executive function; Impulsivity; Intermediate phenotype; LOGOS cohort; Startle non responders