title: Posttraumatic Psychological Symptoms are Associated with Reduced Inhibitory Control, not General Executive Dysfunction.
abstract: Although there is mounting evidence that greater PTSD symptoms are associated with reduced executive functioning, it is not fully understood whether this association is more global or specific to certain executive function subdomains, such as inhibitory control. We investigated the generality of the association between PTSD symptoms and executive function by administering a broad battery of sensitive executive functioning tasks to a cohort of returning Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom Veterans with varying PTSD symptoms. Only tasks related to inhibitory control explained significant variance in PTSD symptoms as well as symptoms of depression, while measures of working memory, measures of switching, and measures simultaneously assessing multiple executive function subdomains did not. Notably, the two inhibitory control measures that showed the highest correlation with PTSD and depressive symptoms, measures of response inhibition and distractor suppression, explained independent variance. These findings suggest that greater posttraumatic psychological symptoms are not associated with a general decline in executive functioning but rather are more specifically related to stopping automatic responses and resisting internal and external distractions.
authors.affiliation: 1Translational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders (TRACTS),VA RR&D TBI Center of Excellence,VA Boston Healthcare System,Boston,Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: DeGutis
authors.affiliation: 1Translational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders (TRACTS),VA RR&D TBI Center of Excellence,VA Boston Healthcare System,Boston,Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Esterman
authors.affiliation: 1Translational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders (TRACTS),VA RR&D TBI Center of Excellence,VA Boston Healthcare System,Boston,Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Bay
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McCulloch
authors.affiliation: 4Department of Psychology,University of Houston,Houston,Texas.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosenblatt
authors.affiliation: 1Translational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders (TRACTS),VA RR&D TBI Center of Excellence,VA Boston Healthcare System,Boston,Massachusetts.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Milberg
authors.affiliation: 1Translational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders (TRACTS),VA RR&D TBI Center of Excellence,VA Boston Healthcare System,Boston,Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McGlinchey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D055826:Afghan Campaign 2001-; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology*; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Depression; Distractor suppression; OEF/OIF veterans; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Response inhibition; Trauma