Article

Effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on occipital lobe function and structure.

Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, USA.
Neuroreport (impact factor: 1.66). 03/2012; 23(7):412-9. DOI:10.1097/WNR.0b013e328352025e pp.412-9
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Although there is evidence for strong connectivity between the amygdala and the visual cortex and some evidence for reduced occipital lobe gray matter volume in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), few studies have directly examined the effects of PTSD on occipital function. The current study used functional and structural MRI to examine occipital cortex function and structure in male combat veterans with and without PTSD. Left occipital gray matter volume was reduced in PTSD patients relative to the controls and correlated negatively with the severity of PTSD symptoms. Functional activity in the lateral occipital complex to aversive and nonaversive pictures presented in novel and repeated presentations was not altered by PTSD. These findings suggest that PTSD adversely affects occipital lobe volume but not the reactivity of the lateral occipital complex to generally aversive, trauma nonspecific stimuli.

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    Article: Falling out of time: enhanced memory for scenes presented at behaviorally irrelevant points in time in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
    Einat Levy-Gigi, Szabolcs Kéri
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    ABSTRACT: Spontaneous encoding of the visual environment depends on the behavioral relevance of the task performed simultaneously. If participants identify target letters or auditory tones while viewing a series of briefly presented natural and urban scenes, they demonstrate effective scene recognition only when a target, but not a behaviorally irrelevant distractor, appears together with the scene. Here, we show that individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), who witnessed the red sludge disaster in Hungary, show the opposite pattern of performance: enhanced recognition of scenes presented together with distractors and deficient recognition of scenes presented with targets. The recognition of trauma-related and neutral scenes was not different in individuals with PTSD. We found a positive correlation between memory for scenes presented with auditory distractors and re-experiencing symptoms (memory intrusions and flashbacks). These results suggest that abnormal encoding of visual scenes at behaviorally irrelevant events might be associated with intrusive experiences by disrupting the flow of time.
    PLoS ONE 01/2012; 7(7):e42502. · 4.09 Impact Factor
Data provided are for informational purposes only. Although carefully collected, accuracy cannot be guaranteed. The impact factor represents a rough estimation of the journal's impact factor and does not reflect the actual current impact factor. Publisher conditions are provided by RoMEO. Differing provisions from the publisher's actual policy or licence agreement may be applicable.

Keywords

amygdala
 
Functional activity
 
lateral occipital complex
 
Left occipital gray matter volume
 
male combat veterans
 
nonaversive pictures
 
occipital cortex function
 
occipital function
 
occipital lobe gray matter volume
 
occipital lobe volume
 
post-traumatic stress disorder
 
PTSD
 
PTSD patients
 
PTSD symptoms
 
reactivity
 
strong connectivity
 
trauma nonspecific stimuli
 
visual cortex