Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 14, 2026
A Prediction Error-driven Retrieval Procedure for Destabilizing and Rewriting Maladaptive Reward Memories in Hazardous Drinkers
Published on: January 5, 2018
Changes on the Modulation of the Startle Reflex in Alcohol-Dependent Patients after 12 Weeks of a
Rosa Jurado-Barba1, Gabriel Rubio Valladolid, Isabel Martínez-Gras
1Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Aims:
Little is known about changes in the modulation of the startle reflex when patients go through an alcohol-dependence treatment in an outpatient facility. In the current study, the affective modulation of the cue-related startle reflex has been used to evaluate changes in the emotional processing of alcohol-related stimuli that occurred after a standard cognitive-behavioral intervention, and to assess the outcome of this intervention. We hypothesized a 'normalization' of the startle inhibition for the alcohol-related cues during the period of treatment. We also assumed that higher startle inhibition at baseline elicited by alcohol cues would predict the relapse on alcohol consumption during treatment.
Participants:
A total of 98 alcohol-dependent subjects were included who fulfilled DSM-IV criteria for alcohol dependence. A control group of 72 subjects was selected to match demographic characteristics.
Measurements:
All patients received a standard cognitive-behavioral therapy once a week throughout the study period.
Findings:
Results show that the startle response differed significantly after 12 weeks of treatment for alcohol-related, neutral and aversive stimuli between alcohol-dependent patients and controls. Low startle responses at baseline to alcohol cues predicted relapse.
Conclusions:
These results may indicate that the startle reflex is referred to enduring and permanent processes of cue reactivity, and that the emotional processing of alcohol-associated cues assessed with the affect-modulated startle reflex is less altered by interventions attempting to influence explicit cognitions. Furthermore, lower values of the baseline startle reflex elicited by alcohol-associated stimuli were associated with higher probability of relapse on alcohol use.
