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Developing Neuroimaging Phenotypes of the Default Mode Network in PTSD: Integrating the Resting State, Working Memory, and Structural Connectivity
Published on: July 1, 2014
Emotional working memory capacity in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Susanne Schweizer1, Tim Dalgleish
1Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK.
Behaviour Research and Therapy
|June 21, 2011
Summary
Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) struggle with emotional working memory. This study found PTSD patients had poorer performance on tasks involving neutral words amidst trauma-related sentences compared to controls.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with cognitive challenges, particularly in managing intrusive thoughts.
- Everyday tasks can be difficult for individuals with PTSD when emotional content interferes with cognitive processes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate emotional working memory capacity (eWMC) in individuals with a history of PTSD.
- To examine the impact of trauma-related intrusive thoughts on cognitive performance in PTSD.
Main Methods:
- Participants with and without PTSD history completed an eWMC task.
- The task involved remembering neutral words while processing either neutral or trauma-related sentences.
- eWMC was measured by recall accuracy in the context of trauma sentences versus neutral sentences.
Main Results:
- The PTSD group demonstrated significantly poorer eWMC compared to trauma-exposed controls without PTSD.
- This suggests individuals with PTSD have specific difficulties utilizing working memory in emotionally charged contexts.
- Performance deficits were observed when neutral word lists were processed alongside trauma-related sentences.
Conclusions:
- A history of PTSD is linked to impaired emotional working memory.
- Findings support the hypothesis that emotional content disrupts cognitive function in PTSD.
- Affective working memory training may offer potential as an adjunctive treatment for PTSD.
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