Chapter 47
Startle
People Affected: everyone for sensory triggers
People Affected: everyone older than 24 months for conceptual trigger
Type of Emotion: reflex
Sensory Triggers: audible, tactile or vestibular stimuli that differs from the past
Conceptual Trigger: “ I detect stimuli than differs from what I expected ”
Physical Effect: arms move up to shield the neck and torso
Physical Effect: neck and face muscles tense
Physical Effect: eyelids blink
Mental Effect: suppressive
Key Feature: the greater the difference, the more pronounced the effects
Involuntary Expression: none, although it appears to
Synonym: surprise
People Affected: everyone older than 24 months for conceptual trigger
Type of Emotion: reflex
Sensory Triggers: audible, tactile or vestibular stimuli that differs from the past
Conceptual Trigger: “ I detect stimuli than differs from what I expected ”
Physical Effect: arms move up to shield the neck and torso
Physical Effect: neck and face muscles tense
Physical Effect: eyelids blink
Mental Effect: suppressive
Key Feature: the greater the difference, the more pronounced the effects
Involuntary Expression: none, although it appears to
Synonym: surprise
Purpose
Startle helps you survive the initial strike of an ambush predator.
Sensory Trigger
Sensory startle is triggered by stimuli consistent with being ambushed by a predator.
Sensory startle is triggered by sudden differences in what you hear or feel. If you are ambushed by a predator, the audible of the predator’s leap will be the first stimuli to reach you. Next will be the tactile feel of the predator making contact with your skin. That will be followed by the motion of your body being propelled forward by the impact, which is detected by the vestibular system in your ear.
Sensory startle is not triggered by sudden differences in what you see. If you see a predator, you can voluntarily prepare. Sudden differences in what you see do trigger the eye blink reflex, which is also triggered by startle. Sudden differences in what you see do not trigger any of startle’s other physical effects, like moving your arms to protect yourself.
Tactile, Acoustic and Vestibular Systems Sum to Elicit the Startle Reflex is a University of Toronto study by John Yeomans that explores sensory startle indepth.
Sensory startle can be triggered from birth onwards. A standard test for newborns is making a loud noise to see if their eyelids blink.
Conceptual Trigger
Startle helps you survive the initial strike of an ambush predator.
Sensory Trigger
Sensory startle is triggered by stimuli consistent with being ambushed by a predator.
Sensory startle is triggered by sudden differences in what you hear or feel. If you are ambushed by a predator, the audible of the predator’s leap will be the first stimuli to reach you. Next will be the tactile feel of the predator making contact with your skin. That will be followed by the motion of your body being propelled forward by the impact, which is detected by the vestibular system in your ear.
Sensory startle is not triggered by sudden differences in what you see. If you see a predator, you can voluntarily prepare. Sudden differences in what you see do trigger the eye blink reflex, which is also triggered by startle. Sudden differences in what you see do not trigger any of startle’s other physical effects, like moving your arms to protect yourself.
Tactile, Acoustic and Vestibular Systems Sum to Elicit the Startle Reflex is a University of Toronto study by John Yeomans that explores sensory startle indepth.
Sensory startle can be triggered from birth onwards. A standard test for newborns is making a loud noise to see if their eyelids blink.
Conceptual Trigger
While sensory startle is triggered by stimuli that differs from the past, conceptual startle is triggered by stimuli that differs from expectation. Sensory startle is triggered by a loud noise, whether it was unexpected it or not. Conceptual startle is triggered by an unexpected noise, whether it was loud or not.
Conceptual startle is triggered by any stimuli that differs from what you expected, including what you expected to see. You are startled if you believe you are working alone and look up to see someone quietly standing there.
Conceptual startle cannot be triggered until a child is 24 months old. Prior to this age, children do not imagine the future and therefore do not have expectations.
Physical Effects
Startle’s physical effects help you survive an ambush predator’s initial strike. Predators pounced on us with claws or plucked us from above with talons. Their initial strikes targeted our head, neck and torso.
Startle causes you to involuntarily move your arms to shield your neck and torso. This prevents the tearing of jugular veins or internal organs. It sacrifices injury to your arms to avoid a fatal injury.
Startle causes you to involuntarily tense your neck and face muscles. Muscles are more difficult to claw through when they are tense.
Startle causes your eyelids to blink. Closing eyelids protects eyes from being scratched or torn out.
The greater the difference in stimuli, the more pronounced the physical effects. Your arms only move slightly if you hear a quiet noise. Your arms move all the way to your neck if you hear a loud noise.
Startle’s physical effects save time. You can voluntarily raise your arms to protect your neck and torso. However, deciding to raise your arms loses valuable time. A claw would be through your jugular in the time required to decide to protect yourself.
Mental Effect
Startle triggers a suppressive mental effect. You stop feeling positive and negative mental effects when you are startled. Suppression helps you concentrate on avoiding a threat by eliminating distractions.
Involuntary Expression
Startle does not trigger an involuntary expression, although it appears to. Involuntary tensing of the face and neck muscles looks like a facial expression.
Conceptual startle is triggered by any stimuli that differs from what you expected, including what you expected to see. You are startled if you believe you are working alone and look up to see someone quietly standing there.
Conceptual startle cannot be triggered until a child is 24 months old. Prior to this age, children do not imagine the future and therefore do not have expectations.
Physical Effects
Startle’s physical effects help you survive an ambush predator’s initial strike. Predators pounced on us with claws or plucked us from above with talons. Their initial strikes targeted our head, neck and torso.
Startle causes you to involuntarily move your arms to shield your neck and torso. This prevents the tearing of jugular veins or internal organs. It sacrifices injury to your arms to avoid a fatal injury.
Startle causes you to involuntarily tense your neck and face muscles. Muscles are more difficult to claw through when they are tense.
Startle causes your eyelids to blink. Closing eyelids protects eyes from being scratched or torn out.
The greater the difference in stimuli, the more pronounced the physical effects. Your arms only move slightly if you hear a quiet noise. Your arms move all the way to your neck if you hear a loud noise.
Startle’s physical effects save time. You can voluntarily raise your arms to protect your neck and torso. However, deciding to raise your arms loses valuable time. A claw would be through your jugular in the time required to decide to protect yourself.
Mental Effect
Startle triggers a suppressive mental effect. You stop feeling positive and negative mental effects when you are startled. Suppression helps you concentrate on avoiding a threat by eliminating distractions.
Involuntary Expression
Startle does not trigger an involuntary expression, although it appears to. Involuntary tensing of the face and neck muscles looks like a facial expression.
Happiness Dissected is a more practical version of The Origin of Emotions.