Heritability of startle reactivity and affect modified startle.
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.
Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, USA. Electronic address: ddhamija@usc.edu.
Devika
D
Dhamija
Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, USA; School of Psychology, Law and Social Work, Örebro University, Sweden.
Catherine
C
Tuvblad
Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, USA.
Michael E
ME
Dawson
Departments of Criminology, Psychiatry, and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, USA.
Adrian
A
Raine
Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, USA.
Laura A
LA
Baker
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001767:Blinking / Q000235:genetics*; D002648:Child; D004576:Electromyography; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000235:genetics*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014429:Twins, Dizygotic; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic
Environmental, affect modification; Genetic; Heritability; Startle blink reflex
Neuropsychopharmacology. 2010 Mar;35(4):929-37
19956084
J Abnorm Psychol. 1993 Feb;102(1):82-92
8436703
J Psychiatr Res. 2005 Jan;39(1):85-92
15504426
Psychophysiology. 2007 Jan;44(1):106-12
17241146
Psychophysiology. 2010 Jul 1;47(4):659-68
20233338
J Affect Disord. 2004 Nov 15;83(1):21-31
15546642
Biol Psychol. 2008 Apr;78(1):10-9
18243481
Psychophysiology. 1990 Sep;27(5):513-22
2274614
Psychophysiology. 2014 Dec;51(12):1285-99
25387708
Psychophysiology. 2003 May;40(3):407-22
12946114
Psychophysiology. 2005 Nov;42(6):753-62
16364071
Clin Neurophysiol. 2003 Sep;114(9):1557-79
12948786
Biol Psychiatry. 1993 Aug 15;34(4):253-60
8399822
Twin Res Hum Genet. 2013 Feb;16(1):336-43
23394193
Biol Psychiatry. 2007 Aug 1;62(3):250-5
17258691
J Abnorm Psychol. 1988 Nov;97(4):487-91
3204235
Psychol Rev. 1990 Jul;97(3):377-95
2200076
J Abnorm Psychol. 1990 May;99(2):189-97
2348014
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2002 Apr;26(4):441-8
11981118
Emotion. 2001 Sep;1(3):300-19
12934688
Biol Psychol. 1997 Oct 10;46(3):235-46
9360775
Behav Neurosci. 1993 Dec;107(6):970-80
8136072
Biol Psychol. 1998 Jan;47(1):1-43
9505132
Psychophysiology. 1996 Mar;33(2):103-11
8851238