Attention, learning, and memory in posttraumatic stress disorder

Abstract

This study compared attention and declarative memory in a sample of combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD, n = 24) previously reported to have reduced concentrations of the hippocampal neuronal marker N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), but similar hippocampal volume compared to veteran normal comparison participants (n = 23). Healthy, well-educated males with combatrelated PTSD without current depression or recent alcohol/drug abuse did not perform differently on tests of attention, learning, and memory compared to normal comparison participants. Further, hippocampal volume, NAA, or NAA/Creatine ratios did not significantly correlate with any of the cognitive measures when adjustments for multiple comparisons were made. In this study, reduced hippocampal NAA did not appear to be associated with impaired declarative memory. Keywordsposttraumatic stress disorder; memory; hippocampus; alcoholism; N-acetyl aspartate Patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often describe difficulties with concentration, attention, and memory. Poorer performance on tests of attention, declarative memory, and other cognitive domains attributable to PTSD status have been found in many but not all studies (e.g. Crowell, Kieffer, Siders, & Vanderploeg, 2002). Decreased performance on neurocognitive tasks may be of particular relevance to PTSD because multiple studies have documented decreases in hippocampal volume (Bremner et al., 1997;Bremner, Randall, Scott, Bronen, et al., 1995;Gilbertson et al., 2002;Gurvits et al., 1996;Stein, Koverola, Hanna, Torchia, & McClarty, 1997;Villarreal et al., 2002) and decreased reduced concentrations of the neuronal marker N-acetyl aspartate (NAA; Freeman, Cardwell, Karson, & Komoroski, 1998;Schuff et al., 2001). Hippocampal atrophy in PTSD was associated with decreased function in explicit memory in a sample of combat veterans (Bremner, Randall, Scott, Bronen, et al., 1995), though not in women with history of childhood sexual assault (Stein et al., 1997).

Hydrocortisone Impairs Hippocampal-Dependent Trace Eyeblink Conditioning in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

“…Since preclinical studies support the role for CA3 and CA1 hippocampal neurons in mediating eyeblink trace conditioning (Berger and Thompson, 1978;Clark and Squire, 1998;Moyer et al, 1990;Solomon et al, 1986;Weiss et al, 1996), the present data are similar to some studies demonstrating normal hippocampal-mediated neuropsychological function in PTSD (Neylan et al, 2004;Pederson et al, 2004;Vasterling et al, 1998).…”

Emotional Memory and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Preliminary Neuropsychological Study in Female Victims of Domestic Violence

“…However, not all neuropsychological studies have noted memory impairments in PTSD; some studies have found no evidence of memory dysfunction related to PTSD (e.g., [57,60,61]) or any evidence that the group differences on the WAIS Vocabulary subtest could account for the group differences on the memory tests [62]. Possible explanations for this discrepancy include the following: (1) the neuropsychological studies associated with PTSD may be compromised by other psychotic or neurological disorders, substance abuse, and poor intelligence, and (2) a robust association between PTSD and verbal memory impairment perhaps reflects a motivational problem rather than a specific neuropsychological deficit [58].…”

Étude de la dissociation, du stress physiologique et de la mémoire en fonction de la présence d'un état de stress post-traumatique chez des adolescents résidant en centre jeunesse /

“…Le but de cette recherche était de comparer des adolescents résidants en centre jeunesse qui présentent un ESPT à d'autres adolescents sur différentes variables reliées à cette problématique de santé mentale tels la dissociation, le stress physiologique et la (Bremner & Brett, 1997;Golier, Yehuda, Lupien, & Harvey, 2003;Golier et al, 2002;Koenen et al, 2001;Luecken, Dausch, Gulla, Hong, & Compas, 2004;Neylan et al, 2004;Nixon, Nishith, & Resick, 2004;Pederson et al, 2004;Rohleder, Joksimovic, Wolf, & Kirschbaum, 2004;Yehuda et al, 1995a;Yehuda et al, 1996). Seulement quelques études ont été effectuées auprès de jeunes (Eisen, Qin, Goodman, & Davis, 2002;Goenjian et al, 1996).…”

“…Ensuite, dans la formation des groupes, les recherches antérieures visaient une population ayant vécu le même type de traumatisme (Bremner & Brett, 1997;Eisen et al, 2002;Goenjian et al, 1996;Golier et al, 2003;Golier et al, 2002;Harvey, Naciti, Brand, & Stein, 2003;Luecken et al, 2004;Neylan et al, 2004;Nixon et al, 2004;Rohleder et al, 2004;Pederson et al, 2004;Stein, Kennedy, & Twamley, 2002;Yehuda et al, 1995c;Yehuda et al, 1996), alors que la présente recherche se base sur un ensemble de traumatismes différents les uns des autres (p. ex., chute grave, agression armée).…”

“…En effet, ces dernières révèlent que les personnes en ESPT démontrent de faibles performances aux épreuves de mémoire comparativement aux autres participants (Golier et al, 2003;Golier et al, 2002). Par ailleurs, d'autres recherches ont obtenu les mêmes conclusions que celles de la présente recherche (Koenen et al, 2001;Neylan et al, 2004;Nixon et al, 2004;Pederson et al, 2004;Stein et al, 2002). Quelques explications peuvent aider à comprendre les résultats obtenus.…”