Inhibition of the startle reflex in the rat by prior tactile stimulation

In Experiment 1, three groups of rats received a tactile prepulse 0.5, 1, or 2 mA electric shock (to feet) .25, .5, 1, 5, 10, or 20 sec prior to an acoustic startle stimulus. The startle response was, maximally inhibited at the .25-sec interval and gradually recovered thereafter. Inhibition was larger with the intense stimuli, and for the .5-mA stimulus occurred reliably only in animals which responded to the prestimulus. In Experiment 2, the intensity of the prepulse was varied within subjects at intervals of .5, 1, and 2 sec. Inhibition was directly related to prestimulus intensity and was greatest at .5 sec. In Experiment 3, an EMG measure of startle reactivity allowed the use of shorter intervals. The maximal inhibitory interval between the prestimulus and startle stimulus was 40 msec compared with either a shorter 10-msec or a longer 250-msec separation.