Table 3.
Summary of studies examining affect-modulated startle reactivity in conjunction with personality traits affiliated with internalizing disorders.
| Personality Trait | Study | Experimental Paradigm | Personality Trait Measure | Subjects | Comorbid Diagnosis? | Medication* | Key result(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fearfulness | Cook et al. (1991) | Startle during imagery | FSS | 32 – upper and lower third of scores; 17 high and 15 low fear | None noted | B | - Greater FPS in high scorers than low scorers |
| Cook et al. (1992) | Affect-picture startle | FSS | 32 – high and low scores; 17 high and 15 low fear | None noted | A | - Greater FPS in high scorers than low scorers | |
| Grillon et al. (1993) | Startle during threat of shock | STAI | 22 unselected | None noted | A | - Greater FPS in high scorers - No difference in general startle |
|
| Corr et al. (1995) | Affect-picture startle | TPQ | 38 unselected | No psychiatric illnesses | A | Low TPQ-Harm Avoidance scorers did not show FPS | |
| Corr et al. (1997) | Affect-picture startle | TPQ | 23 unselected | No psychiatric illnesses | A | Low TPQ-Harm Avoidance scorers did not show FPS | |
| Schmidt and Fox (1998) | Startle during stranger approach | Motor activity, positive and negative affect to novel auditory and visual stimuli | 9 month old infants; 10 showing above average motor activity and negative affect; 6 showing above average motor activity and positive affect; 7 showing below average motor activity, positive and negative affect | None noted | A | - Greater FPS in negative group when exposed to stranger - No differences in general startle |
|
| Traits Related to Anxiety and Depression | Wilson et al. (2000) | Affect-movie clips startle – with fear- and disgust-inducing clips | EPQ | 42 unselected; median split on EPQ-Neuroticism scores | None noted | A | Greater startle to disgust clips in low Neuroticism subjects; equal startle for both disgust and fear in high Neuroticism subjects |
| Kaviani et al. (2004) | Affect-movie clips startle | DSM-IV and HADS | 22 inpatients with MD; 22 controls | None noted | C | Greater general startle in high anxious-depressed group compared to low-anxious depressed group | |
| Verona et al. (2002) | Startle during Buss aggression paradigm | MPQ | 48 total - 24 each in high (> 80th %ile) and low (< 20th %ile) MPQ - Negative Emotionality | None noted | A | - Greater general startle in high Negative Emotionality participants | |
| - No differences in FPS | |||||||
| Larson et al. (2007) | Affect-picture startle paradigm | PSWQ and MASQ | 14 anxious apprehension, 19 anhedonic depression, 10 anxious arousal, 39 controls | None noted | A | - Lack of FPS in anxious apprehension group - Weak inhibition to pleasant stimuli in anxious arousal and anhedonia groups | |
| Hawk and Kowmas (2003) | Affect-picture startle paradigm | BIS/BAS Scales | 21 low-BIS/low-BAS, 19 low-BIS/high-BAS, 18 high-BIS/low-BAS, and 22 high-BIS/high-BAS | None noted | A | - No differences in FPS between high- and low-BIS groups - Low-BIS did not show significant inhibition to pleasant pictures like high-BIS group |
|
| - Low-BAS scores did not show valence-modulated startle | |||||||
| Caseras et al. (2006) | Affect-picture startle paradigm - but had separate categories of “fear” vs. “blood-disgust” pictures | SPSRQ | 24 participants high Sensitivity to Punishment group and 28 low Sensitivity to Punishment group | No psychiatric illness | A | High-BIS group showed significant potentiation for fear pictures compared to pleasant pictures; low-BIS group did not; no differences in responses to blood-disgust pictures | |
| Nitschke et al. (2002) | Affect-picture startle paradigm; pictures were immediately preceded by a warning sign (a plus sign, a minus sign or a circle) to indicate the valence of the following picture; startle probes were presented during warning signs | PSWQ and MASQ | 12 anxious apprehension, 14 anxious arousal, 18 anhedonic depression, 12 controls | None noted | A | No differences among groups | |
| Smith et al. (2005) | Startle during blocks of affective pictures of the same valence category - probe at 2nd and 11th picture | STAI | 37 unselected | None noted | A | No differences between groups | |
| Psychopathy | Patrick et al. (1993) | Affect picture – startle | PCL-R | 18 psychopaths; 18 mixed; 18 nonpsychopaths | None noted | A | - FPS in psychopaths less than nonpsychopaths |
| - This effect due to psychopaths with high Factor 1 scorers | |||||||
| Vanman et al. (2003) | Affect picture - startle | None | 80 unselected | None noted | A | Decreased FPS in high Factor 1 scorers | |
| Benning et al. (2005) | Affect picture - startle | MPQ-predicted Fearless Dominance and Impulsive Antisociality scores | 31 high and 31 low Fearless Dominance; 31 high and 31 low Impulsive Antisociality | Details not noted but authors report that subjects excluded if serious mental handicap present | A | Decreased FPS in high Fearless Dominance groups; no differences between Impulsive-Antisociality groups | |
| Patrick (1994) | Startle during anticipation of aversive stimuli | PCL-R | 18 nonpsychopaths; 14 high emotional detachment, low antisocial behavior; 8 high antisocial behavior; 18 psychopaths | None noted | A | Decreased FPS during anticipation of aversive stimuli in psychopaths and detached group | |
| Sensation seeking | Vaidyanathan et al. (2009) | Affect picture - startle | Trait Fear | 88 unselected | None noted | A | Trait Fear correlated positively with FPS |
| Lissek and Powers (2003) | Affect picture - startle | SSS and SSS-TAS | 32 – 16 high and low scores | None noted | A | No FPS in high SSS group | |
| Lissek et al. (2005) | Startle during anticipation of aversive stimuli | SSS | 34 – 17 high and low scores | No psychiatric illness | B | Greater FPS in low SSS group during both predictable and unpredictable aversive stimuli |
Note:
Under Diagnostic Instruments: BIS/BAS Scales = Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Activation System scales; EPQ = Eysenck Personality Questionnaire; FSS = Fear Survey Schedule; HADS = Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; MASQ = Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire; MPQ = Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire; PCL-R = Psychopathy Checklist-Revised; PSWQ = Penn State Worry Questionnaire; SPSRQ = Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire; SSS = Sensation Seeking Scale; SSS-TAS = Sensation Seeking Scale – Thrill and Adventure Seeking subscale; STAI = State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; TPQ = Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire
Under Key Result(s): FPS = Fear-Potentiated Startle
- A = None noted
- B = Medication-free
- C = Medication use specified, but effect of medication not assessed
- D = Medication use specified and effect of medication assessed
Medication usage varied widely and included multiple classes of drugs such as anti-anxiety, antidepressant, and neuroleptic medication. For the sake of simplicity, we treated all classes of drugs the same and collapsed them into a generic medication category. Additionally, some studies also noted subjects stopping medication use for some arbitrary period prior to the experiment (e.g., 2 weeks, 4 weeks, etc.). In such cases, we elected to classify these subjects as “medication-free” for the purposes of that particular study.