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First, you get to play a game:

If you played this through, on the last maze you should have gotten a jump scare, formally known as the startle response, and it exists as a natural reflex both in humans and animals. For a cat, a simple foreign object can trigger it, for humans, we require more stimulus to get startled (something like a Jack in the Box for kids, or a video game for adults). In the end, its an involuntary reflex, not something we can actively control. Research shows, the amount of response to the reflex in humans is highly dependent on the user's mental engagement at the time of being jump scared as seen here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/374201900_Work_Hard_Scare_Hard_An_Investigation_of_How_Mental_Workload_Impacts_Jump_Scare_Intensity.

I would like to focus on this specific element of creatureness, the ability to induce it, and the ability to have a reaction when it is done to a creature.

My Artificial Creature: A jittery robot arm

I would imagine my artificial creature being a sort of robot arm that is programmed to perform its usual activities in industry such as packaging and material handling. It is equippied with necessary sensors and cameras for obtaining video and audio data about its environment. However, this arm can also get startled and has a variety of stimulus when it does. These range from dropping whatever its holding, to tensing up and recoiling. The level of response depends on how fixated the robot arm currently is on its own activity and the nature of a stimulus. A simple loud sound might make it startle but not completely interrupt its own activity, however if it sees someone suddenly lash out at it, it might recoil and drop what its currently doing. Also just like a person who is jump scared, the effect only lasts a moment, and the arm recovers almost immediately to continue on with its work.

Creatures that can induce jump scares, and creatures that are affected by jump scares can tell us a lot about the startle response. For one, the ability to induce one is not specifically tied to the ability to feel it. As seen above, simple analog boxes with things stuffed in them can induce it, but not necessarily feel it. Furthermore while it is a natural reflex, the intensity of the reflex depends on the creature's mental engagement when performing its task.

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