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Neuropsychological measurement of inhibitory control in posttraumatic stress disorder: An exploratory antisaccade
Matthew Reinhard1, Nathaniel Allen1, Ling M Wong1
1a War Related Illness and Injury Study Center , Veterans Affairs Medical Center , Washington , DC , USA.
Objective:
The aim of the study was to uncover inhibitory control dynamics and assess antisaccade eye-tracking tasks for relevance in a veteran posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) population.
Method:
Participants were 36 veterans enrolled at the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The groups (PTSD diagnosed vs. controls) did not vary between age and sex. Participants completed a testing battery of clinical neuropsychological measures and two different eye-tracking conditions, one that utilized face stimuli and one with standard shape stimuli, which test pro- (PS) and antisaccade (AS) eye movements.
Results:
Veterans with PTSD, t(33) = 2.2, p = .04, took longer to respond than controls in the standard condition AS. In the face condition, a group by task interaction was seen with increased latency for PTSD veterans in the AS versus PS task, F(3, 33) = 3.99, p = .05, with a large overall effect (Hedges' g = 1.18, p < .001) compared to controls. After controlling for depression, analyses suggested that only the face condition AS task significantly predicted dimensions of PTSD symptomology measured by the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) for veterans with PTSD.
Conclusions:
This is the first study to extend AS findings to PTSD and suggests a specific capability to measure inhibitory control using eye-tracking technology. We discuss the notion that reduced capacity to regulate facial-related processing affects cognitive and attentional control networks of PTSD patients, potentially representing a core cognitive deficit.
