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Cognitive control of attention is differentially affected in trauma-exposed individuals with and without post-traumatic stress disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2012

K. S. Blair ,
M. Vythilingam ,
S. L. Crowe ,
D. E. McCaffrey ,
P. Ng ,
C. C. Wu ,
M. Scaramozza ,
K. Mondillo ,
D. S. Pine  and
D. S. Charney
...Show all authors
K. S. Blair*
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
M. Vythilingam
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
S. L. Crowe
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
D. E. McCaffrey
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
P. Ng
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
C. C. Wu
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
M. Scaramozza
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
K. Mondillo
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
D. S. Pine
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
D. S. Charney
Affiliation:
Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
R. J. R. Blair
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: K. S. Blair, Ph.D., National Institute of Mental Health, 15K North Drive, MSC 2670, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

This study aimed to determine whether patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) show difficulty in recruitment of the regions of the frontal and parietal cortex implicated in top-down attentional control in the presence and absence of emotional distracters.

Method

Unmedicated individuals with PTSD (n = 14), and age-, IQ- and gender-matched individuals exposed to trauma (n = 15) and healthy controls (n = 19) were tested on the affective number Stroop task. In addition, blood oxygen level-dependent responses, as measured via functional magnetic resonance imaging, were recorded.

Results

Patients with PTSD showed disrupted recruitment of lateral regions of the superior and inferior frontal cortex as well as the parietal cortex in the presence of negative distracters. Trauma-comparison individuals showed indications of a heightened ability to recruit fronto-parietal regions implicated in top-down attentional control across distracter conditions.

Conclusions

These results are consistent with suggestions that emotional responsiveness can interfere with the recruitment of regions implicated in top-down attentional control; the heightened emotional responding of patients with PTSD may lead to the heightened interference in the recruitment of these regions.

Keywords

Anxietypost-traumatic stress disorderfMRIfronto-parietal cortextop down attention control
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 43 , Issue 1 , January 2013 , pp. 85 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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