Startle reflex inhibition in the rat: Its persistence after extended repetition of the inhibitory stimulus.

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Abstract
Startle reflexes to intense sound bursts are inhibited by weak stimuli that briefly precede their elicitation. In 3 experiments the startle stimulus (a 110-dB SPL [sound perception level] tone burst) was presented 100 ms after the final link in a train of stimuli, the length of the train varying from 1 to 1,000, its repetition rate varying from 1/s to 10/s, and its constituents being 40 or 50 dB white noise bursts of 25 ms duration. Inhibition was invariant across train length and repetition rate. In a final experiment the startle stimulus was presented a variable interval after the final link, from 40 to 1280 ms, with 1 or 100 noise bursts (50 dB) in the train. Inhibition developed more rapidly following the last member of the 100-stimulus train, suggestive of a priming or sensitization effect of stimulus repetition, but its overall strength and subsequent rate of decay were not different in the 2 conditions. The general persistence of inhibition following these extended series of stimuli reveals that reflex inhibition must be the outcome of a fixed and obligatory process associated with sensory input.

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