Discriminative delay Pavlovian eyeblink conditioning in veterans with and without posttraumatic stress disorder

Ginsberg, J. P.; Ayers, Edwin; Burriss, Louisa; Powell, D. A.

doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2007.08.009

Cited by 22 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Unsurprisingly, mean CES scores were higher in male than female veterans (Males: M=8.8, SD=9.8; Females: M=3.1, SD=6.9; Mann-Whitney U=306, p=.031, r2=.057). Following prior studies (e.g., Ginsberg et al, 2008), veterans with a CES score of 0–7 were classified as non-combat, while those with a score of 8+ were classified as having a history of exposure to combat. Based on this metric, 28 males and 2 females met criterion for history of exposure to combat.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond symptom self-report: use of a computer “avatar” to assess post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms

Myers

Radell

Shind

et al. 2016

Stress

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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can occur in the wake of exposure to a traumatic event. Currently, PTSD symptoms are assessed mainly through self-report in the form of questionnaire or clinical interview. Self-report has inherent limitations, particularly in psychiatric populations who may have limited awareness of deficit, reduced attention span, or poor vocabulary and/or literacy skills. Diagnosis and evaluation of treatment efficacy would be aided by behavioral measures. A viable alternative may be virtual environments, in which the participant guides an on-screen “avatar” through a series of onscreen events meant to simulate real-world situations. Here, a sample of 82 veterans, self-assessed for PTSD symptoms was administered such a task, in which the avatar was confronted with situations that might evoke avoidant behavior, a core feature of PTSD. Results showed a strong correlation between PTSD symptom burden and task performance; in fact, the ability to predict PTSD symptom burden based on simple demographic variables (age, sex, combat exposure) was significantly improved by adding task score as a predictor variable. The results therefore suggest that virtual environments may provide a new way to assess PTSD symptoms, while avoiding at least some of the limitations associated with symptom self-report, and thus might be a useful complement to questionnaire or clinical interview, potentially facilitating both diagnosis and evaluation of treatment efficacy.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond symptom self-report: use of a computer “avatar” to assess post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms

Myers

Radell

Shind

et al. 2016

Stress

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“…[57] did include extinction trials in their delay conditioning study, but learning was so poor during the acquisition phase the extinction data presented are not conclusive. Unfortunately, the complex discrimination delay study by Ginsberg and colleagues did not assess extinction [59]. However, both Vythilingam et al .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lastly, Ginsberg et al . [59] examined three groups of veterans on a delay conditional discrimination eyeblink conditioning task, including combat veterans with PTSD, combat veterans without PTSD, and non-combat veterans without PTSD. In conditional discrimination learning, a compound CS is used (light and tone) to signal the onset of the US.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Overall, individuals with PTSD appear to show deficits on certain EBCC learning paradigms: delay conditional discrimination [59], possibly simple delay learning [57], intact performance on other EBCC tasks [1], and trace differential learning [58]. Collectively, these data indicate that combat exposed veterans with PTSD are impaired in acquisition using a delay paradigm but normal using a trace conditioning paradigm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of OEF/OIF-Related Physical and Emotional Co-Morbidities on Associative Learning: Concurrent Delay and Trace Eyeblink Classical Conditioning

McGlinchey

Fortier

Venne

et al. 2014

IJERPH

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This study examined the performance of veterans and active duty personnel who served in Operation Enduring Freedom and/or Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) on a basic associative learning task. Eighty-eight individuals participated in this study. All received a comprehensive clinical evaluation to determine the presence and severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). The eyeblink conditioning task was composed of randomly intermixed delay and trace conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US) pairs (acquisition) followed by a series of CS only trials (extinction). Results revealed that those with a clinical diagnosis of PTSD or a diagnosis of PTSD with comorbid mTBI acquired delay and trace conditioned responses (CRs) to levels and at rates similar to a deployed control group, thus suggesting intact basic associative learning. Differential extinction impairment was observed in the two clinical groups. Acquisition of CRs for both delay and trace conditioning, as well as extinction of trace CRs, was associated with alcoholic behavior across all participants. These findings help characterize the learning and memory function of individuals with PTSD and mTBI from OEF/OIF and raise the alarming possibility that the use of alcohol in this group may lead to more significant cognitive dysfunction.

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“…When asked to self-identify ethnicity as Hispanic or non-Hispanic, 5 self-identified as Hispanic, 111 self-identified as non-Hispanic, and 3 declined to specify ethnicity. Participants reporting prior military service ( n =74) were also administered the Combat Exposure Scale (CES; Keane, et al, 1989); following prior studies (Myers, et al, 2012; Ginsberg, et al, 2008), those scoring below 8 on the CES were classified as non-combat-exposed ( n =47) and the remainder as having a history of exposure to combat ( n =27). Asked about specific conflicts in which they had served, 27 reported Vietnam, 11 Gulf War/Operation Desert Storm, 10 Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom, 13 Other (e.g.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Greater avoidance behavior in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms

Sheynin

Shind

Radell

et al. 2017

Stress

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While avoidance is a core symptom of PTSD, little is known about whether individuals with PTSD show a general cognitive bias to acquire and express avoidance, in situations not related to trauma or fear. Here, we used a computer-based task to examine operant acquisition and extinction of avoidance in participants with and without severe self -reported PTSD symptoms. A total of 119 participants (77 male, 42 female; 74 veteran, 45 civilian) with symptoms (PTSS; n=63) or with few/no symptoms (noPTSS; n=56) performed a task, in which they controlled a spaceship and could shoot a target to gain points or hide in “safe areas” to escape or avoid on-screen aversive events. Results show that participants with PTSS exhibited more avoidance across trials than no PTSS participants, particularly due to more avoidance behavior in PTSS females compared to noPTSS females. Avoidance behavior decreased across extinction trials but interactions with PTSS and gender fell short of significance. Overall, PTSD symptoms were associated with propensity to acquire and express avoidance behavior, in both civilians and veterans, and even in a cognitive task that does not explicitly involve trauma or fear. This effect was more pronounced in females, highlighting the role of gender differences in PTSD symptomatology. Importantly, this study also demonstrates the potential of an objective assessment of avoidance behavior, which could be used to supplement the common but limited self-report tools.

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Discriminative delay Pavlovian eyeblink conditioning in veterans with and without posttraumatic stress disorder

Cited by 22 publications

References 50 publications

Beyond symptom self-report: use of a computer “avatar” to assess post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms

Beyond symptom self-report: use of a computer “avatar” to assess post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms

Effects of OEF/OIF-Related Physical and Emotional Co-Morbidities on Associative Learning: Concurrent Delay and Trace Eyeblink Classical Conditioning

Greater avoidance behavior in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms

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