Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with information-processing deficits and a reduction of selective attention, along with hyperarousal and hyper-reactivity to threat- and emotion-related stimuli. PTSD may involve an enhancement in automatic processing and an inability to inhibit automatic processing when required. The predominant neurophysiological model of PTSD has focused on medial prefrontal disruptions during the processing of fear-related stimuli and does not include potential alterations in the explicit inhibitory control of automatic responding. We investigated executive inhibitory control in PTSD during an emotionally neutral (go/no go) response inhibition task in individuals with PTSD (n = 23) and matched healthy controls (n = 23) using functional magnetic resonance imaging. PTSD was associated with diminished inhibitory control and reduced activation of a cortical inhibitory network (particularly right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex), as well as an increase in areas associated with sensory processing (somatosensory and visual cortices) and increased inhibitory task demand (striatum). These findings are consistent with diminished executive inhibitory control in PTSD and may reflect increased stimulus processing, which undermines cortical control mechanisms.
Article contents
04-03 The neural networks of inhibitory control in post-traumatic stress disorder
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 June 2014
Abstract
- Type
- Abstracts from ‘Brainwaves’— The Australasian Society for Psychiatric Research Annual Meeting 2006, 6–8 December, Sydney, Australia
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- Copyright © 2006 Blackwell Munksgaard
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