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Updated: Jul 25, 2026
Habituation and Prepulse Inhibition of Acoustic Startle in Rodents
Published on: September 1, 2011
Modulation of startle and the startle-elicited P300 by the conditions of the cued continuous performance task in
E M Ornitz1, J G Gehricke, A T Russell
1Division of Child Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA. eornitz@mednet.ucla.edu
Objectives:
This study compares the modulation of the startle response by conditions requiring response preparation, production, and inhibition during a cued continuous performance task (CPT) in children to the results of previous studies in adults and evaluates the modulation of the startle-elicited P300 under the same conditions. The latter variable, reflecting the cognitive processing of the startling stimulus (SS), has not been studied under these conditions.
Methods:
Normal boys completed a cued CPT in which the cue was the letter T, the go condition requiring a button press was an X following the T, and the no-go condition requiring response inhibition was a letter other than X following the T. SS were presented 450 ms following the letter of interest in each condition. The amplitudes of the startle-elicited P300 at Fz, Cz, and Pz and the startle blink were compared in the different CPT conditions.
Results:
The startle blink, measured by orbicularis oculi electromyography, was not inhibited by the no-go CPT condition as is the case in adults. The vertical electro-oculogram was actually largest in the no-go condition. The startle-elicited P300 showed a central predominance and was significantly larger in the no-go condition and in the cue condition than in the go condition.
Conclusions:
The absence of inhibition of the startle response during the no-go condition probably reflects a relative inefficiency of prefrontal cortical mechanisms that mediate response inhibition in children compared to adults. The enhanced startle-elicited P300 in the no-go and cue conditions of the CPT reflects cognitive processing of the SS that has been influenced by response inhibition or its anticipation.
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