Emotion, attention, and the startle reflex.

Abstract

This theoretical model of emotion is based on research using the startle-probe methodology. It explains inconsistencies in probe studies of attention and fear conditioning and provides a new approach to emotional perception, imagery, and memory. Emotions are organized biphasically, as appetitive or aversive (defensive). Reflexes with the same valence as an ongoing emotional state are augmented; mismatched reflexes are inhibited. Thus, the startle response (an aversive reflex) is enhanced during a fear state and is diminished in a pleasant emotional context. This affect-startle effect is not determined by general arousal, simple attention, or probe modality. The effect is found when affects are prompted by pictures or memory images, changes appropriately with aversive conditioning, and may be dependent on right-hemisphere processing. Implications for clinical, neurophysiological, and basic research in emotion are outlined.

Keywords

Moro reflexPsychologyArousalCognitive psychologyReflexPerceptionValence (chemistry)Context (archaeology)Acoustic Startle ReflexStartle reactionStartle responseNeurophysiologyNeuroscienceDevelopmental psychology

MeSH Terms

ArousalAttentionBlinkingEmotionsHumansReflexStartle

Related Publications

Efficacy of participant modeling as a function of response induction aids.

Albert Bandura , Robert W. Jeffery , Carolyn L. Wright

The present experiment tested the efficacy of participant modeling as a function of the amount of response induction aids employed. Adult phobics received participant modeling w...

1974 Journal of Abnormal Psychology 142 citations

Method and theory in the study of avoidance.

R. J. Herrnstein

Two-factor theories of avoidance were conceived to explain responding in avoidance procedures that closely resemble the Pavlovian paradigm in superficial features, although diff...

1969 Psychological Review 491 citations

Adaptive mental mechanisms: Their role in a positive psychology.

George E. Vaillant

Psychology needs a metric for positive mental health that would be analogous to the IQ tests that measure above-average intelligence. The Defensive Function Scale of the DSM-IV ...

2000 American Psychologist 326 citations

Parallel Distributed Processing

David E. Rumelhart , James L. McClelland

What makes people smarter than computers? These volumes by a pioneering neurocomputing group suggest that the answer lies in the massively parallel architecture of the human min...

1986 The MIT Press eBooks 15204 citations

On the permanence of stored information in the human brain.

Elizabeth F. Loftus , Geoffrey R. Loftus

Many people believe that information that is stored in long-term memory is permanent, citing examples of techniques that are alleged to uncover previously forgotten information...

1980 American Psychologist 430 citations

Publication Info

Year: 1990
Type: article
Volume: 97
Issue: 3
Pages: 377-395
Citations: 2112
Access: Closed

External Links

Download PDF (Free) View on DOI.org PubMed Semantic Scholar

Social Impact

Altmetric

Emotion, attention, and the startle reflex.

PlumX Metrics

Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions

Citation Metrics

2112

OpenAlex

104

Influential

1461

CrossRef

Cite This

APA Style

                            
                                    Peter J. Lang, 
                                
                                    Margaret M. Bradley, 
                                
                                    Bruce N. Cuthbert
                                
                            (1990). 
                            Emotion, attention, and the startle reflex.. 
                            Psychological Review
                            , 97
                            (3)
                            , 377-395.
                            https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.97.3.377

Identifiers

DOI: 10.1037/0033-295x.97.3.377
PMID: 2200076

Data Quality

Data completeness: 81%