H31 Prepulse Inhibition

A startle response is a physiological response to an unexpected intense stimulus, such as a burst of loud noise or the slamming of a door. This stimulus is known as the startle-eliciting stimulus. Responses to the startle-eliciting stimulus include increases eye blinking, heart rate, skin conductance, and muscular responses.

Experimental Objectives

1. To observe changes in the startle response as the subject is exposed to an unexpected, sudden stimulus.
2. To observe changes in the startle response as the subject is exposed to the prepulse inhibition stimulus.
3. To measure, compare, and correlate the response of blink magnitude, latency, and habituation rate as the subject is exposed to the startle-eliciting stimulus and the pre-pulse inhibition stimulus.

Tasks Performed by the Student

Subject will:

• put the headphones on and sit in front of the computer monitor displaying SuperLab,
• relax and not move, and
• watch an .xpt presentation.

Student Prep & Distance Learning

Click the link(s) below for sample data and/or lesson procedure video(s), BSL PRO Lesson procedures (PDF) for human lessons*, and graph template files (*.gtl) for BSL PRO Lessons. If more than one .gtl is available, download the .gtl with the _suffix to match BSL version and hardware.

• BSL PRO Lesson H31 files (zip)
• BSL PRO Lesson H31 (PDF)
• Graph template file for BSL PRO H31
• Graph template file for BSL PRO H31 for MP35

Lesson Hardware

This lesson requires a Biopac Student Lab (BSL) System and the following hardware. If your BSL System does not include all hardware items, expand your system by selecting required items below. For more details, review the Lesson: L# BSL Lessons - see the Lab Manual or launch BSL; A# and H# BSL PRO Lessons, click the PDF link above to review full setup, recording, and analysis procedures.