Dj. Goldstein et Td. Blumenthal, STARTLE EYEBLINK ELICITATION IN ATTENTION-DEFICIT DISORDERED CHILDRENUSING LOW-INTENSITY ACOUSTIC STIMULI, Perceptual and motor skills, 80(1), 1995, pp. 227-231
The acoustic startle eyeblink response was measured in 11 pediatric ps
ychiatric inpatients, 7 diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD) and 4 diagnosed with other conditions (non-ADHD). Sta
rtle stimuli were 85 or 95 dB SPL, 50-msec. noise pulses. Startle eyeb
link responses were reliably measured for all children. Startle respon
se latency was faster for ADHD children than for clinical control subj
ects in all stimulus conditions. These data show that the acoustic sta
rtle eyeblink response can be reliably elicited in ADHD children at lo
wer intensities (83-95 dB) than those used in previous published resea
rch (104 dB). This may increase the use of the startle paradigm, since
less intense stimuli may be less disturbing to the children, increasi
ng compliance and allowing longer testing sessions.