Startle Reflex Responses in the Presence of Angry Facial Expressions Compared to Friendly Facial Expressions
Disciplines
Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract (300 words maximum)
This study aims to discover how individual’s startle reflex Reponses change in the presence of Aggressive/angry faces compared to attractive/friendly facial expressions. Utilizing the acoustic startle response through the skeletomuscular system, in which measures adaptive reflexes involved in threat responding. We analyzed exaggerated startle as a predictor of emotion dysregulation and anxiety risk, where we quantify electromyography (EMG) as a noninvasive measure of startle activity while examining the immediate physiological reactions to emotionally charged stimuli. We hypothesize that participants will show a heightened startle and arousal responses when viewing pictures of aggressive/angry facial expressions compared to when participants view attractive/friendly facial expressions. In this current study there are two comparison conditions and the stimulus for each condition will be presented for 5 seconds each with two blocks presented to participants. The observed changes in startle reflex responses will suggest that emotional stimuli, specifically aggressive and attractive facial expressions, will play a crucial role in modulating the startle reflex. Also, understanding how individuals startle responses vary in the context of different facial expressions contributes to the identification of psychophysiological markers of emotional reactivity, as well as exploring the relationship between startle reflex and emotional stimulus could provide further development of targeted therapeutic approaches. Overall, this study contributes to the understanding of how individual’s startle reflex responses dynamically change in the presence of emotionally charged facial expressions and the implications of these findings that extend to fields such as psychology and clinical research.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
RCHSS - Psychological Science
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Ebony Glover
Startle Reflex Responses in the Presence of Angry Facial Expressions Compared to Friendly Facial Expressions
This study aims to discover how individual’s startle reflex Reponses change in the presence of Aggressive/angry faces compared to attractive/friendly facial expressions. Utilizing the acoustic startle response through the skeletomuscular system, in which measures adaptive reflexes involved in threat responding. We analyzed exaggerated startle as a predictor of emotion dysregulation and anxiety risk, where we quantify electromyography (EMG) as a noninvasive measure of startle activity while examining the immediate physiological reactions to emotionally charged stimuli. We hypothesize that participants will show a heightened startle and arousal responses when viewing pictures of aggressive/angry facial expressions compared to when participants view attractive/friendly facial expressions. In this current study there are two comparison conditions and the stimulus for each condition will be presented for 5 seconds each with two blocks presented to participants. The observed changes in startle reflex responses will suggest that emotional stimuli, specifically aggressive and attractive facial expressions, will play a crucial role in modulating the startle reflex. Also, understanding how individuals startle responses vary in the context of different facial expressions contributes to the identification of psychophysiological markers of emotional reactivity, as well as exploring the relationship between startle reflex and emotional stimulus could provide further development of targeted therapeutic approaches. Overall, this study contributes to the understanding of how individual’s startle reflex responses dynamically change in the presence of emotionally charged facial expressions and the implications of these findings that extend to fields such as psychology and clinical research.