The role of neuroticism in startle reactions to fearful and disgusting stimuli

It has frequently been observed that negative moods potentiate the startle reflex to unexpected, threatening stimuli. However, recent work from our la boratory suggests that this effect relates primarily to the emotion of fear or anxiety, while stimuli which evoke powerful feelings of disgust can in some circumstances inhibit the startle reflex. In this study we reanalyse d ata from 42 subjects in whom eyeblink amplitudes to an auditory probe were measured whilst viewing emotionally arousing film clips. Classifying the ne gative film clips into separate categories of "frightening" vs "disgusting" revealed a previously undetected interaction with EPQ Neuroticism. High N subjects showed greater startle reactions than low N subjects under fearful conditions but low N subjects showed greater startle when disgust was evok ed. This suggests that Neuroticism may increase vigilance where evasive act ion is possible but promote emotional blunting when escape is not an option . (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.