PRESTIMULUS MODULATION OF REFLEXIVE/VOLUNTARY REACTIONS

根据“简单系统”的方法，基础的机制 一组复杂的现象最容易用集中的方法来解释 研究体现这些现象的最简单的系统。它是 在这项提案中辩称， 认知心理学家--通过警觉和 定向--在一个简单的系统中表现出来，至少 在神经生理学水平上表现得相当好， 惊恐眨眼反射。警报被假定为非特定的主信号 轻微有害的声音或躯体刺激后的运动路径。 始终如一地，强烈的声前刺激促进了两种反射 以及自愿的反应。瞬间刺激在视觉上的开始 外周被假设为引起感官的隐蔽运动 注意那个位置，这一过程被称为反身性 定向。‘与警报一样，定向也会调节反射性和 自愿的反应。在拟议的研究中，反身性和自愿性 反应和它们的电生理关联将直接 与评估共同机制构成基础的可能性 对这两类反应的调制效应。操纵 将采用已被证明有用的定向和警报功能 认知心理学家进行的研究，但尚未 由反射生理学家尝试，反之亦然。此外，实验， 计划阐明调节脑干的神经通路 在警示和定向研究中使用的反射， 具体地说，视觉瞬目反射和视觉预脉冲抑制。 这些研究的结果应该会对认知和 心理学家和神经学家，并可能立即在 神经科诊所，用于定量、客观地评估 皮质下视觉通路的完整性。

According to the "simple systems" approach, the mechanisms underlying a set of complex phenomena can be most easily elucidated by concentrated research on the simplest system which manifests those phenomena. It is argued in this proposal that two modulatory phenomena studied by cognitive psychologists--the speeding of reactions by alerting and orienting--are manifested in a simple system that has been at least moderately well characterized at the neurophysiological level, the startle-blink reflex. Alerting is hypothesized to nonspecifically prime motor pathways following a mildly noxious acoustic or somatic stimulus. Consistently, an intense acoustic prestimulus facilitates both reflexive and voluntary reactions. The onset of a transient stimulus in the visual periphery is hypothesized to elicit a covert movement of sensory attention to that location, a process referred to as 'reflexive orienting.' Like alerting, orienting modulates both reflexive and voluntary reactions. In the proposed research, reflexive and voluntary reactions, and their electrophysiological correlates, will be directly compared to evaluate the possibility that common mechanisms underlie modulatory effects on both classes of response. Manipulations of orienting and alerting will be employed that have proven useful in studies performed by cognitive psychologists but which have not been tried by reflex physiologists, and vice versa. In addition, experiments are planned to clarify the neural pathways mediating the brainstem reflexes that are to be used in the alerting and orienting studies, specifically, the visual blink reflex and visual prepulse inhibition. The results of these studies should be of interest to both cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists, and may find immediate application in the neurological clinic for quantitative, objective assessment of the integrity of subcortical visual pathways.