Emotional imagery, the visual startle, and covariation bias: an affective matching account

This study assessed the effects of imagery valence and arousal on the visually prompted startle reflex, heart rate, and estimates of probe occurrence in 24 males and 22 females. Valence and arousal independently augmented startle magnitudes, similar to prior research with acoustic probes (Witvliet, C.V.O., Vrana, S.R., 1995. Psychophysiological responses as indices of affective dimensions, Psychophysiology 32, 436-443). In both of these studies, arousal exerted stronger effects than valence on the startle reflex. Arousal also facilitated heart rate acceleration. Participants' estimates of startle flash occurrence reflected a covariation bias. Estimates were higher and more accurate for the high-arousal conditions and for the negative conditions, paralleling startle magnitude findings. Results suggest that affective response matching processes (rather than affective stimulus matching) influenced both startle reflex magnitudes and probe frequency estimates. Comparisons with the covariation bias literature are drawn, differences are addressed, and directions for future research are suggested.