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Mechanical perturbations can elicit triggered reactions in the absence of a startle response

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Abstract

Perturbations delivered to the upper limbs elicit reflexive responses in stretched muscle at short- (M1: 25–50 ms) and long- (M2: 50–100 ms) latencies. When presented in a simple reaction time (RT) task, the perturbation can also elicit a preprogrammed voluntary response at a latency (< 100 ms) that overlaps the M2 response. This early appearance of the voluntary response following a proprioceptive stimulus causing muscle stretch is called a triggered reaction. Recent work has demonstrated that a perturbation also elicits activity in sternocleidomastoid (SCM) over a time-course consistent with the startle response and it was, therefore, proposed that the StartReact effect underlies triggered reactions (Ravichandran et al., Exp Brain Res 230:59–69, 2013). The present work investigated whether perturbation-evoked SCM activity results from startle or postural control and whether triggered reactions can also occur in the absence of startle. In Experiment 1, participants “compensated” against a wrist extension perturbation. A prepulse inhibition (PPI) stimulus (known to attenuate startle) was randomly presented before the perturbation. Rather than attenuating SCM activity, the responses in SCM were advanced by the PPI stimulus. In Experiment 2, participants “assisted” a wrist extension perturbation. The perturbation did not reliably elicit startle but despite this, two-thirds of trials had RTs of less than 100 ms and the earliest responses began at ~ 70 ms. These findings suggest that SCM activity following a perturbation is the result of postural control and is not related to startle. Moreover, an overt startle response is not a prerequisite for the elicitation of a triggered reaction.

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Notes

  1. It is possible that our conservative startle classification criteria (bilateral OOc and bilateral SCM within 120 ms of a stimulus) contributed to the low incidence of startle (18.1%) on SAS-Catch trials. We further examined SAS-Catch condition, particularly the trials that showed bilateral SCM activity but no responses in OOc.It was rare to observe SCM activity in the absence of OOc (7 out of 237 SAS-Catch trials). Of these trials, the response only appeared in ECR on four trials (mean onset of 111 ms; i.e., not StartReact-like latency). Three other trials were classified as having bilateral SCM and unilateral OOc activity. The preprogrammed ECR response appeared on all three trials with a mean onset of 118 ms. The majority of SAS-Catch trials had bilateral OOc activity but no activity in SCM at < 120 ms. Thus, the conservative classification of what constitutes a startle response used in this study [which was implemented to protect against a high proportion of false-positive startle responses (due to postural SCM) on mechanical perturbation trials; see Methods], was unlikely to produce a high proportion of false-negative startle responses.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia, War Memorial Gymnasium 210-6081 University Boulevard, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1, Canada

    Christopher J. Forgaard, Ian M. Franks, Kimberly Bennett, Dana Maslovat & Romeo Chua

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  1. Christopher J. Forgaard
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  3. Kimberly Bennett
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Correspondence to Christopher J. Forgaard.

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Forgaard, C.J., Franks, I.M., Bennett, K. et al. Mechanical perturbations can elicit triggered reactions in the absence of a startle response. Exp Brain Res 236, 365–379 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-017-5134-x

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