Earthquake related startle reaction and its EEG correlates

The acute effect of traumatizing events on the human brain has long been st udied. The major obstacles to this endeavor have been the severity and the delay from time of exposure to the traumatizing events. To avoid these issu es, EEG and clinical examinations of 18 healthy, drug-free subjects were pe rformed 2 weeks after an earthquake occurred in Turkey in 1999, It was foun d, for the first time to our knowledge, that EEG parameters can predict sta rtle response in acute stress reaction correctly in 100% of the cases. EEG measures of the reactivity to eyes opening were especially important in thi s regard.