Women with borderline personality disorder do not show altered BOLD responses during response inhibition.
Impulsivity is central to borderline personality disorder (BPD). Response inhibition, addressing the ability to suppress or stop actions, is one aspect of behavioral impulse control which is frequently used to assess impulsivity. BPD patients display deficits in response inhibition under stress condition or negative emotions. We assessed whether response inhibition and its neural underpinnings are impaired in BPD when tested in an emotionally neutral setting and when co-morbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is excluded. To this end, we studied response inhibition in unmedicated BPD patients and healthy controls (HC) in two independent samples using functional magnetic resonance imaging during Simon-, Go/nogo-, and Stopsignal tasks. BPD patients and HC did not differ significantly in their performance in the Go/nogo and the Stopsignal tasks. Response interference in the Simon task was increased in BPD patients in one sample, but this could not be replicated in the second sample. In both samples, no significant differences in brain activation patterns during any of the tasks were present while the neural impulse control network was robustly activated during the inhibition tasks in both groups. Our results provide evidence that under emotionally neutral conditions response inhibition is not impaired in patients with BPD without co-occurring ADHD.
Department of Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Germany.
Julia
J
van Eijk
Emotion Regulation and Impulse Control Group, Focus Program Translational Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz Germany. Electronic address: alexandra.sebastian@unimedizin-mainz.de.
Alexandra
A
Sebastian
Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Germany; Clinical Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Science, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Annegret
A
Krause-Utz
Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Germany.
Sylvia
S
Cackowski
Department of Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Germany.
Traute
T
Demirakca
Department of Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Germany.
Sarah V
SV
Biedermann
Emotion Regulation and Impulse Control Group, Focus Program Translational Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz Germany.
Klaus
K
Lieb
Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Germany.
Martin
M
Bohus
Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Germany.
Christian
C
Schmahl
Department of Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Germany.
Gabriele
G
Ende
Emotion Regulation and Impulse Control Group, Focus Program Translational Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz Germany; Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry, Albert-Ludwigs-University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany.
Oliver
O
Tüscher
D000328:Adult; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D007174:Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D055815:Young Adult
Borderline personality disorder; Fmri; Go/nogo task; HRI task; Impulse control; Simon task; Stopsignal task