Recent advances in studying brain‐behavior interactions using functional imaging: The primary startle response pathway and its affective modulation in humans.

The startle response is a cross‐species defensive reflex that is considered a key tool for cross‐species translational emotion research. While the neural pathway mediating (affective) startle modulation has been extensively studied in rodents, human work on brain‐behavior interactions has lagged in the past due to technical challenges, which have only recently been overcome through non‐invasive simultaneous EMG‐fMRI assessments. We illustrate key paradigms and methodological tools for startle response assessment in rodents and humans and review evidence for primary and modulatory neural circuits underlying startle responses and their affective modulation in humans. Based on this, we suggest a refined and integrative model for primary and modulatory startle response pathways in humans concluding that there is strong evidence from human work on the neurobiological pathway underlying the primary startle response while evidence for the modulatory pathway is still sparse. In addition, we provide methodological considerations to guide future work and provide an outlook on new and exciting perspectives enabled through technical and theoretical advances outlined in this work. This comprehensive review addresses a critical gap in cross‐species translational emotion research by examining the current evidence for neural pathways of the startle response in humans. By highlighting key paradigms, methodological advancements, and the limited evidence for modulatory pathways in humans, this work provides an evidence‐based foundation for future investigations and details how non‐invasive simultaneous EMG‐fMRI assessments open new avenues for exploring (pathological) emotion processing in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]