ABSTRACT
The past decade has witnessed a remarkable growth of interest in the psychophysiological processes underlying modification of the human startle reflex. This phenomenal growth is due in large part to the pioneering research of Graham (1975, 1979, 1980) and her coworkers, who adapted the startle modification paradigm used in animal research (see Hoffman & Ison, 1980, for a review) and applied it in a systematic program of research to the human eye-blink component of the startle reflex. The focus of the present chapter, therefore, is on human startle eye-blink modification (SEM) phenomena, although other measures of startle modification derived from animal research are cited where relevant, particularly when discussing the neurophysiology of startle modification.
