The role of trauma-related distractors on neural systems for working memory and emotion processing in posttraumatic stress disorder

Abstract

The relevance of emotional stimuli to threat and survival confers a privileged role in their processing. In PTSD, the ability of trauma-related information to divert attention is especially pronounced. Information unrelated to the trauma may also be highly distracting when it shares perceptual features with trauma material. Our goal was to study how trauma-related environmental cues modulate * Corresponding author. Address: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3918, Durham, NC 27710, USA. Tel.: +1 919 286 0411x6425; fax: +1 919 416 5912. E-mail address: E-mail: rajendra.morey@duke.edu (R.A. Morey).. Contributors Rajendra Morey, M.D. wrote the manuscript, analyzed the fMRI data, supervised the research effort, and obtained research funding. Florin Dolcos worked on designing the challenge task, consulted on data analysis, provided critical review and revisions of the manuscript. Christopher M. Petty analyzed the fMRI data and helped to write Section 2. Debra A. Cooper created the stimuli and challenge task; recruited, consented and enrolled subjects; performed MRI scans, analyzed demographic and clinical data; helped with creating figures and tables, and proofread the manuscript. Jasmeet P. Hayes analyzed the behavioral data and wrote Section 3 on behavioral performance. Kevin S. LaBar consulted on data analysis and task design, and provided critical review and revisions of the manuscript. Gregory McCarthy worked on designing the challenge task, consulted on data analysis, provided critical review and revisions of the manuscript, and obtained research funding.Publisher's Disclaimer: This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright Conflict of interest statementThe authors have no actual or potential conflict of interest including financial or personal relationships that could influence or could be perceived to influence the work in this manuscript. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript working memory networks in PTSD. We examined neural activity in participants performing a visual working memory task while distracted by task-irrelevant trauma and non-trauma material. Recent post-9/11 veterans were divided into a PTSD group (n = 22) and a trauma-exposed control group (n = 20) based on the Davidson trauma scale. Using fMRI, we measured hemodynamic change in response to emoti...

Altered Resting-State Functional Connectivity of Basolateral and Centromedial Amygdala Complexes in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

“…While our study found CMA functional connectivity with dACC, this functional connection was not modulated by PTSD. The cortical targets of the BLA that we found were modulated by PTSD, including pregenual ACC/dorsomedial PFC and dACC, and are strongly implicated in PTSD by behavioral and cognitive challenge tasks (Milad et al, 2009;Morey et al, 2009). These cortical targets have myriad functions, but are also primary components of the default mode and salience networks.…”

“…The prefrontal and sensory-association cortical regions in these systems project primarily to the BLA (Hartley and Phelps, 2010), although recent research has also implicated the CMA in fear learning (LeDoux, 2012). Thus, our first hypothesis was that PTSD would be linked to altered BLA connectivity with key cortical regions such as ventromedial prefrontal cortex (PFC) (Myers and Davis, 2007), ACC (Gilboa et al, 2004), insula (Simmons et al, 2009), and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) (Morey et al, 2009), and PTSD would be linked to altered CMA connectivity with regions underlying fear expression such as striatum, midbrain, and thalamus (LeDoux, 1998). Our second hypothesis, based on the role of BLA in fear conditioning, was that PTSD would modulate the divergent functional connectivity of BLA and CMA with its target regions.…”

Short-Form Mindfulness Training Protects Against Working Memory Degradation over High-Demand Intervals

“…First, prior studies suggest increased susceptibility to negative distraction during induced stress (Oei et al 2006(Oei et al , 2012 as well as in patients with stress-related disorders (e.g., PTSD, Morey et al 2009). Second, prior studies suggest that MT may reduce reactivity to negative images (Brefczynski-Lewis et al 2007;Ortner et al 2007).…”

“…Recently, delayed-recognition tasks, as described above, have been used to investigate the impact of laboratoryinduced stress (Oei et al 2006) as well as stress-related disorders (PTSD, Morey et al 2009) on component processes of WM. Oei et al (2006) reported that task performance during high-but not low-load trials was worse in individuals induced to experience psychosocial stress via the Trier stress test versus those in a no-stress group.…”

“…These findings suggest that salient negative stimuli, despite being task-irrelevant, capture attention and interfere with ongoing maintenance of task-relevant memoranda leading to decreased WM performance. These stimuli may be similar to what is encountered in the external environment under highstress circumstances (Morey et al 2008(Morey et al , 2009). Several studies have now reported that WM task performance is worse for trials on which negative vs. neutral distracters are presented (Beblo et al 2010;Morey et al 2008Morey et al , 2009Oei et al 2012), with even greater performance costs under experimentally-induced stress (Oei et al 2006).…”