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Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Classical Short-Delay Eyeblink Conditioning in One-Year-Old Children
Published on: September 1, 2018
Facilitation as well as inhibition of the blink reflex by a visual prepulse requires intact striate cortex
Douglas Sonnenberg1, Lenworth N Johnson, Anita Jurkowski
1Department of Psychological Sciences, 210 McAlester Hall, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
Objective:
The role of visual cortex in modulation of the human eye blink reflex was assessed.
Methods:
Participants were 13 patients with unilateral striate cortex damage. Nonreflexogenic gratings were presented in their intact or blind hemifield prior to white noise or air puff blink-eliciting stimuli.
Results:
Inhibition of reflex amplitude was observed at asynchronies ranging from about 120 to 600ms for visible but not invisible prepulses. Facilitation by intact-hemifield gratings was observed for (1) the latency of the acoustic blink reflex, (2) the amplitude of the disynaptic cutaneous blink reflex, R1, and (3) the latency of voluntary hand-grip reactions to the reflexogenic stimuli. These facilitatory effects were absent on trials with blind-hemifield prepulses.
Conclusions:
An intact V1 is required for prepulse facilitation as well as inhibition.
Significance:
These results extend a popular model of sensorimotor gating deficits in schizophrenia.
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