Performance Recovery Following Startle: A Laboratory Approach to the Study of Behavioral Response to Sudden Aircraft Emergencies

Civil Aerospace Medical Institute1988PDFTech ReportThackray, Richard I.Civil Aeromedical InstituteUnited States. Office of Aviation MedicineCivil Aerospace Medical InstituteUnited StatesAir transportation crashesEmergenciesReaction timeMotor reactionsBehaviorPhysiological aspectsHeart rateGalvanic skin responseBlood pressurePerformance testsField testsLaboratory testsAircraft accidentsEmergenciesStartle reactionReaction timeMotor abilityHeart beatGalvanic skin responseBlood pressurePerformance--TestingDOT/FAA/AM-88/4This paper deals with the use of response/recovery rate to auditory startle as a laboratory technique for simulating some of the principal aspects of the initial shock phase of sudden emergency situations. It is submitted that auditory startle, with its unexpectedness, pronounced autonomic reaction, fear-like subjective experience, and frequent behavioral disruption, approximates the response pattern to be expected in the initial shock phase of sudden traumatic emergencies, and that by studying the time course of performance recovery following startle, as well as individual differences in response/recovery rate, we may gain a better understanding of some of the variables related to extreme reactions displayed by individuals in real-life emergency situations.Research studies conducted in our laboratory and in others on performance impairment/recovery following startle are reviewed. These studies include those dealing with initial reaction time to the startle stimulus itself, disruption and recovery rate of perceptual-motor (tracking) performance following startle, and the time-course of performance recovery in information processing tasks after exposure to startle. Data are also presented showing a relationship of several individual difference variables to performance response/recovery following startle. These variables include autonomic response to the startle stimulus and level of task proficiency prior to startle.119