[Independence of startle elicitation from lead-stimulus inhibition in man]

In the present study, the relationship between startle elicitation and lead-stimulus inhibition was examined. The amplitude of the human startle eyeblink reflex increased linearly with increases in the intensity of reflex-eliciting noise (S2). A lead-stimulus (S1), a pip tone of 70 dB, inhibited the reflex at both conditions with lead times of 100 ms (Experiment 1) and 250 ms (Experiment 2). The amplitude of the reflex was reduced by an equal amount regardless of the intensity of S2 in both experiments. The results show that the lead-stimulus inhibition is independent of the reflex elicitation.