title: Improving cognitive control in adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
abstract: The adverse impact of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on the developing mind in adolescence can extend well into adulthood. The developmental malleability of cognitive control capacity in this age group, however, may hold particular promise for cognitive training interventions. The present study investigated the effects of affective working memory (aWMT) compared to placebo-training on cognitive and affective functioning in adolescents with PTSD. 30 treatment-seeking adolescents trained for 20 days on either an affective dual n-back task (aWMT; n = 15) or a feature match task (placebo; n = 15). The aWMT group showed greater pre-to post-training increases in cognitive control as measured by the GoNogo task as well as improvements in symptoms of PTSD and increased use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies. These preliminary findings are promising given the potential for free and easy dissemination of the aWMT in schools and online.
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, United Kingdom. Electronic address: susanne.schweizer@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schweizer
authors.affiliation: Educational Psychology Department, Faculty of Education & Psychology, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Zobair
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Samimi
authors.affiliation: Clinical Psychology Department, Faculty of Education & Psychology, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Jafar
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hasani
authors.affiliation: Clinical Psychology Department, Faculty of Education & Psychology, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moradi
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Faculty of Education & Psychology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mirdoraghi
authors.affiliation: Clinical Psychology Department, Faculty of Education & Psychology, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khaleghi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: Adolescence; Affective working memory; Cognitive control; Cognitive control training; Emotion; Emotion regulation; Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)