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Intact alternation performance in high lethality suicide attempters.
John G Keilp1, Gwinne Wyatt1, Marianne Gorlyn1
1Department of Molecular Imaging and Neuropathology, New York State Psychiatric Institute, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, USA.
Psychiatry Research
|June 1, 2014
Summary
High lethality suicide attempters with planned attempts surprisingly performed better on an Object Alternation task. This suggests ventral prefrontal cortical dysfunction is not universal in all suicide attempters.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Suicide attempters frequently exhibit deficits in ventral prefrontal cortical (VPFC) function.
- Object Alternation (OA) is a cognitive task sensitive to VPFC function, but its use in suicide attempt research is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate VPFC function using the OA task in individuals with a history of suicide attempts of varying lethality.
- To examine the relationship between OA performance and other cognitive measures to assess its validity.
Main Methods:
- A computerized Object Alternation (OA) task was administered to medication-free depressed individuals categorized by suicide attempt lethality (high vs. low), depressed non-attempters, and non-patients.
- Participants also completed the Wisconsin Card Sort, Stroop task, Buschke Selective Reminding Test, Go-No Go, and Iowa Gambling Task to assess discriminant, concurrent, and construct validity.
Main Results:
- Contrary to expectations, high lethality suicide attempters, particularly those whose attempts involved planning and non-violent methods, outperformed other depressed groups on the OA task.
- No group differences were found on the Wisconsin Card Sort, indicating discriminant validity for OA.
- Past attempters showed deficits on the Stroop and Buschke Selective Reminding Test, despite intact OA performance. OA performance correlated with Go-No Go and Iowa Gambling Task results.
Conclusions:
- Ventral prefrontal cortical (VPFC) dysfunction may not be a universal characteristic of all suicide attempters.
- Carefully planned, non-violent suicide attempts may be associated with different cognitive profiles than previously assumed.
- The Object Alternation task shows promise as a measure of VPFC function relevant to suicide attempt research.