MODULATION OF THE ACOUSTIC STARTLE RESPONSE BY FILM-INDUCED FEAR AND SEXUAL AROUSAL

The response matching model of Lang, Bradley, and Cuthbert (1992) pred icts startle reflex facilitation during negative relative to positive emotional states. Using slide and imagery paradigms, larger eyeblink r esponses to startle probes for unpleasant than for pleasant conditions have consistently been reported. The present study extended the previ ously observed relationship between valence and startle to more comple x stimuli, namely I-min film fragments. Thirty-three subjects viewed a sequence of 27 film fragments with neutral, negative (fearful), and p ositive (sexual) contents, presented in one of three mixed orders. Bli nk magnitude to brief bursts of white noise was larger during fearful fragments than during sexual fragments. Blink magnitudes habituated ac ross successive film fragments, but the positive-negative difference r emained stable within film fragments and during the entire length of t he videotape (approximately 40 min).