Harm avoidance and affective modulation of the startle reflex: A replication

Affective modulation of the eyeblink startle reflex, by unpleasant slides, was found to be limited to subjects high on Harm Avoidance (HA; Cloninger, 1986); low HA subjects did not respond to unpleasant slides with potentiated startle reflexes. This result provides a replication of Corr, Wilson, Fotiadou, Kumari, Gray, Checkley and Gray (1995a), and supports the hypothesis that individual differences in trait anxiety are important in affective modulation of the startle reflex. It is concluded that Cloningerʹs HA should be routinely included in future startle modulation experiments.