Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T01:35:19.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cross-modal warning effects on reflexive and voluntary reactions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2002

BONNIE L. ZEIGLER ,
FRANCES K. GRAHAM  and
STEVEN A. HACKLEY
BONNIE L. ZEIGLER
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
FRANCES K. GRAHAM
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
STEVEN A. HACKLEY
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, USA
Get access

Abstract

Previous research has shown that warning signals can speed the onset of the startle-blink reflex. To relate this phenomenon to warning effects on voluntary reaction time (RT), the latencies of both reflexive and voluntary responses were measured for nine factorial combinations of warning and reflexogenic stimulus modalities. Previous failures to use factorial manipulations of warning (S1) and reaction (S2) stimulus modalities have led to conflicting results in both the reflex and RT literatures. Using psychophysically matched warning signals, we found a facilitation of reflex latency that was nonspecific with regard to S1 and S2 modality. Furthermore, there was no support for the widely held assumption that visual stimuli are inherently less alerting than auditory and cutaneous stimuli. A between-group comparison showed that simultaneous voluntary reactions do not distort the reflex facilitation effect. These results support the validity of reflex facilitation as a simple model system for studying warning effects on sensorimotor reactions.

Keywords

AlertingArousalConditioned facilitationNonselective attentionPrepulse facilitationHeart rateBrain stem reflexes
Type
Research Article
Information
Psychophysiology , Volume 38 , Issue 6 , November 2001 , pp. 903 - 911
Copyright
© 2001 Society for Psychophysiological Research

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)