Examining the Eyeblink Startle Reflex as a Measure of Emotion and Motivation to Television Programming

This study examines the reliability and validity of the eyeblink startle reflex as a measure of emotional and motivational responding to television content. A pretest uses continuous response measurement to identify pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant scenes from a television drama. Acoustic startle probe methodology and facial electromyography are used to measure responding to these scenes during an experiment. Although past research has suggested that the startle reflex is a reliable measure of emotional responding to television and film content, there is reason to expect that this effect may be obfuscated if the probe falls close to a camera change or scene change. The startle reflex data offer convergent validity with the continuous response data and concurrent validity with the facial electromyographic data. However, the presence of a camera change or scene change within 500 ms of the startle probe did disrupt the emotional modulation of the reflex. These data show that the startle reflex can be a valid and reliable temporally precise measure of emotional responding to television programming if proximity to scene changes and camera changes is controlled.