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Humans are
born with a natural startle reaction that’s connected to the sympathetic
nervous system. The working theory of most experts is that the startle reaction
is nature’s way of making sure everything has a fighting chance of saving
themselves should they find themselves caught in an unexpected attack. The
startle reaction has been observed in both vertebrates and invertebrates.
Behaviorist call this instinctive
reaction to being scared the startle response, most of us are more familiar
with the term of fight or flight reaction. In most cases, the instinct to flee
is too instinctive to ignore. The good news is that in most cases, the desire
to run disappears as our conscious mind identifies whatever it is that spooked
us and we’re able to logically deal with the situation.
The
Science Behind the Startle Reaction
Interest in the Alexander Technique,
a method used to help control a musical performer’s body tension and movement and
how they impact the quality of their performance, led Frank Pierce Jones to
devise a 1951 experiment that enabled him to “see” precisely how the body
reacts when a person is startled.
During the course of his experiment,
Jones observed that the first thing that occurred when a person gets startled
is that the amygdala and hypothalamus trigger the a bodily response before the
rest of the brain even fully recognizes the threat. Once the response is
triggered, the spooked person’s neck muscles contract, forcing the head to move
as five different muscles around the eyes tighten. The impulses telling the
body to move, race downwards, flattening the chest while simultaneously
contracting abominable muscles, nature’s way of preparing your body to survive
a blow. While all this is happening, your arms jerk into a defensive position
while your knees flex and prepare to race from the location. It takes less than
a split second for this to occur.
Researchers have observed that the
startle response kicks in approximately 20 milliseconds after the
initial exposure to stimulus. It can end after approximately 500 milliseconds.
Researchers measure how people respond to the startle response by both
attaching sensors to the muscles surrounding the test subject’s eyes,
monitoring the electrical conductance of a in their skin, and
videotaping the response to observe the physical reactions at a slowed down,
frame-by-frame manner.
Controlling
the Startle Response
Strictly speaking, it’s not possible
to override the startle response. What is
possible is learning how to become increasingly aware of your surroundings and
adapting a semi-alert attitude at all times. These skills and life adjustments
are what allow soldiers and police officers to remain cool, calm, and collected
while they’re in the middle of an intense situations, though they’ll still get
startled and jump when exposed to unexpected stimuli once they’re in a safe environment
and are relaxed.
While it’s not possible to completely
override the startle reaction, it is possible to train the body to adapt a
specific stance or reaction following exposure to unexpected stimulus. Martial
arts, military organizations, and law enforcement agencies use muscle memory to
trigger a specific, fighting stance, that allows the person to respond in a
manner that’s more fight than flight.
When
the Startle Response Goes Into Overdrive
A startle response is a good thing,
but in some people, it can go into overdrive, causing them to become over stimulated
to a wide assortment of things, triggering extreme stress, anxiety, and
tension. More importantly, the medical community believes that an overactive
startle response indicates a person is struggling to cope with broader
neurological conditions, which can include but aren’t limited to:
- · Huntington’s Disease
- · Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- · Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- · Hyperekplexia
- · Schizophrenia
It’s believed that by learning more about over-reactive startle responses will enable doctors to better determine how
advanced a patient’s cognitive issues extend, leading to the ability to
customize a treatment program that’s better adapted for each patient. Some feel
that by monitoring the startle reaction, it becomes easier to determine exactly
how well the patients respond to medications and psychological therapy.
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