PRESTIMULUS MODULATION OF REFLEXIVE/VOLUNTARY REACTIONS

根据“简单系统”方法， 一组复杂的现象可以最容易地阐明集中 研究最简单的系统，体现这些现象。 是 在这一提议中认为，两种调制现象研究， 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， 在神经生理学水平上， 惊跳-眨眼反射 警报被假设为非特异性启动 运动路径后，轻度有害的声音或躯体刺激。 一致地，强烈的声学前刺激促进了反射性的 自愿的反应。 视觉系统中短暂刺激的开始 外围被假设为引起感觉的隐蔽运动， 注意到这个位置，这个过程被称为“自反” 定向就像警觉一样，定向调节反射和 自愿的反应。 在拟议的研究中，自反性和自愿性 反应，以及它们的电生理学相关，将直接 比较以评估共同机制背后的可能性 对两类反应的调节作用。操纵 定向和警报将被采用，这已被证明是有用的， 认知心理学家进行的研究， 由反射生理学家尝试，反之亦然。 此外，实验 旨在阐明脑干的神经通路 用于警戒和定向研究的反射， 特别是眨眼反射和视觉前脉冲抑制。 这些研究的结果应该是感兴趣的认知 心理学家和神经科学家，并可能立即应用于 神经科诊所进行定量，客观的评估 皮层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.