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Neural systems for executive and emotional processing are modulated by symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in Iraq War veterans.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Morey, RA; Petty, CM; Cooper, DA; Labar, KS; McCarthy, G
Published in: Psychiatry Res
January 15, 2008

The symptom-provocation paradigms generally used in neuroimaging studies of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have placed high demands on emotion processing but lacked cognitive processing, thereby limiting the ability to assess alterations in neural systems that subserve executive functions and their interactions with emotion processing. Thirty-nine veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while exposed to emotional combat-related and neutral civilian scenes interleaved with an executive processing task. Contrast activation maps were regressed against PTSD symptoms as measured by the Davidson Trauma Scale. Activation for emotional compared with neutral stimuli was highly positively correlated with level of PTSD symptoms in ventral frontolimbic regions, notably the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, and ventral anterior cingulate gyrus. Conversely, activation for the executive task was negatively correlated with PTSD symptoms in the dorsal executive network, notably the middle frontal gyrus, dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus, and inferior parietal lobule. Thus, there is a strong link between the subjectively assessed behavioral phenomenology of PTSD and objective neurobiological markers. These findings extend the largely symptom provocation-based functional neuroanatomy to provide evidence that interrelated executive and emotional processing systems of the brain are differentially affected by PTSD symptomatology in recently deployed war veterans.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Psychiatry Res

DOI

ISSN

0165-1781

Publication Date

January 15, 2008

Volume

162

Issue

1

Start / End Page

59 / 72

Location

Ireland

Related Subject Headings

  • Veterans
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Psychiatry
  • Prefrontal Cortex
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Nerve Net
  • Male
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Iraq War, 2003-2011
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
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Morey, R. A., Petty, C. M., Cooper, D. A., Labar, K. S., & McCarthy, G. (2008). Neural systems for executive and emotional processing are modulated by symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in Iraq War veterans. Psychiatry Res, 162(1), 59–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2007.07.007
Morey, Rajendra A., Christopher M. Petty, Debra A. Cooper, Kevin S. Labar, and Gregory McCarthy. “Neural systems for executive and emotional processing are modulated by symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in Iraq War veterans.Psychiatry Res 162, no. 1 (January 15, 2008): 59–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2007.07.007.
Morey RA, Petty CM, Cooper DA, Labar KS, McCarthy G. Neural systems for executive and emotional processing are modulated by symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in Iraq War veterans. Psychiatry Res. 2008 Jan 15;162(1):59–72.
Morey, Rajendra A., et al. “Neural systems for executive and emotional processing are modulated by symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in Iraq War veterans.Psychiatry Res, vol. 162, no. 1, Jan. 2008, pp. 59–72. Pubmed, doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2007.07.007.
Morey RA, Petty CM, Cooper DA, Labar KS, McCarthy G. Neural systems for executive and emotional processing are modulated by symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in Iraq War veterans. Psychiatry Res. 2008 Jan 15;162(1):59–72.
Journal cover image

Published In

Psychiatry Res

DOI

ISSN

0165-1781

Publication Date

January 15, 2008

Volume

162

Issue

1

Start / End Page

59 / 72

Location

Ireland

Related Subject Headings

  • Veterans
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Psychiatry
  • Prefrontal Cortex
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Nerve Net
  • Male
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Iraq War, 2003-2011