title: Neural correlates of attention bias to threat in post-traumatic stress disorder.
abstract: Attentional biases have been proposed to contribute to symptom maintenance in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), although the neural correlates of these processes have not been well defined; this was the goal of the present study. We administered an attention bias task, the dot probe, to a sample of 37 (19 control, 18 PTSD+) traumatized African-American adults during fMRI. Compared to controls, PTSD+ participants demonstrated increased activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) in response to threat cue trials. In addition, attentional avoidance of threat corresponded with increased ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activation in the PTSD group, a pattern that was not observed in controls. These data provide evidence to suggest that relative increases in dlPFC, dACC and vlPFC activation represent neural markers of attentional bias for threat in individuals with PTSD, reflecting selective disruptions in attentional control and emotion processing networks in this disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. nfani@emory.edu
authors.forename: Negar
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fani
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jovanovic
authors.forename: Timothy D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Ely
authors.forename: Bekh
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gutman
authors.forename: Erin B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Tone
authors.forename: Kerry J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Ressler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention; D015982:Bias; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen