title: Subliminal trauma reminders impact neural processing of cognitive control in adults with developmental earthquake trauma: a preliminary report.
abstract: Little is known about the effects of developmental trauma on the neural basis of cognitive control among adults who do not have posttraumatic stress disorder. To examine this question, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare the effect of subliminal priming with earthquake-related images on attentional control during a Stroop task in survivors of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China (survivor group, survivors were adolescents at the time of the earthquake) and in matched controls (control group). We found that the survivor group showed greater activation in the left ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) and the bilateral parahippocampal gyrus during the congruent versus incongruent condition, as compared to the control group. Depressive symptoms were positively correlated with left vACC activation during the congruent condition. Moreover, psychophysiological interaction results showed that the survivor group had stronger functional connectivity between the left parahippocampal gyrus and the left vACC than the control group under the congruent-incongruent condition. These results suggested that trauma-related information was linked to abnormal activity in brain networks associated with cognitive control (e.g., vACC-parahippocampal gyrus). This may be a potential biomarker for depression following developmental trauma, and it may also provide a mechanism linking trauma reminders with depression.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, 400715, China.|School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, 400715, China.|School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, XinQiao Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400037, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ran
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Denver, Denver, CO, 80208, USA.
authors.forename: Pilyoung
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Barbara L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Ganzel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, 79409, USA.
authors.forename: GuangSheng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, 400715, China.|School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, 400715, China. zhangql@swu.edu.cn.|School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China. zhangql@swu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qinglin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, China. mhq99666@126.com.
authors.forename: Huaqing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, 400715, China. qiuj318@swu.edu.cn.|School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China. qiuj318@swu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qiu
mesh_terms: D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D055866:Earthquakes; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D020534:Parahippocampal Gyrus / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Stroop task; Subliminal priming impact; fMRI