Electrocortical processing of social signals of threat in combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder

MacNamara, Annmarie; Post, Daniel; Kennedy, Amy E.; Rabinak, Christine A.; Phan, K. Luan

doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.08.009

Cited by 58 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…First, the pain-exposed participants showed posttraumatic symptoms, which may also be related to the observed alterations in the brain response to pain. Although inconsistency exists in the literature, alterations in the processing of aversive stimuli such as negative facial expressions have been demonstrated in combat-exposed individuals with (Catani, Adenauer, Keil, Aichinger, & Neuner, 2009;MacNamara et al, 2013) and without (Catani et al, 2009) PTSD, including diminished differentiation in response to aversive and neutral stimuli (MacNamara et al, 2013). To distinguish activity patterns that are specific to pain processing from those more generally associated with the processing of aversive content, future studies of pain processing in combatexposed individuals will be required, which should also include negative stimuli that are not related to pain, such as threatening facial expressions, scenes, or events.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, prior exposure to others' pain would alter the brain response to pain-related stimuli. Although stimuli depicting others in painful and nonpainful conditions have not been used in combat-exposed individuals, reduced discrimination in response to aversive versus neutral stimuli has recently been demonstrated in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to combat exposure (MacNamara, Post, Kennedy, Rabinak, & Phan, 2013). We therefore speculated that the group of pain-exposed individuals would show decreased differentiation in response to the pain versus nonpain conditions.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Prior exposure to extreme pain alters neural response to pain in others

Eidelman-Rothman

Goldstein

Weisman

et al. 2016

Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci

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In the extant literature examining the brain mechanisms implicated in pain perception, researchers have theorized that the overlapping responses to pain in the self and in others mark the human capacity for empathy. Here we investigated how prior exposure to extreme pain affects pain perception, by assessing the dynamics of pain processing in veterans who were previously exposed to severe injury. Fortythree participants (28 pain-exposed and 15 controls) underwent whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) while viewing photographs of limbs in painful and nonpainful (neutral) conditions. Among controls, an early (0-220 ms) Bpain effect^in the posterior cingulate and sensorimotor cortices, and a later (760-900 ms) Bpain effect^in the posterior cingulate cortex, superior temporal gyrus/insula, and fusiform gyrus were found, indicated by enhanced alpha suppression to the pain versus nonpain conditions. Importantly, pain-exposed participants exhibited an atypical pain response in the posterior cingulate cortex, indicated by a normative response to pain, but no pain-to-no-pain differentiation. This may suggest that individuals exposed to extreme pain may perceive neutral stimuli as potentially threatening. Our findings demonstrate alterations in pain perception following extreme pain exposure, chart the sequence from automatic to evaluative pain processing, and emphasize the importance of considering past experiences in studying the neural response to others' states.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Prior exposure to extreme pain alters neural response to pain in others

Eidelman-Rothman

Goldstein

Weisman

et al. 2016

Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci

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“…Participants completed an emotional face-matching task (Hariri, Tessitore, Mattay, Fera, & Weinberger, 2002), which has been used to assess ERPs to threat in adult anxiety (Labuschagne et al, 2010; MacNamara, Post, Kennedy, Rabinak, & Phan, 2013). The task involved the presentation of three images in a triangular arrangement for 3000 ms, and participants were instructed to select one of the two images at the bottom of the screen that matched the image centered at the top of the screen.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced Neural Reactivity to Threatening Faces in Anxious Youth: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials

Kujawa

MacNamara

Fitzgerald

et al. 2015

J Abnorm Child Psychol

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Anxiety disorders are characterized by enhanced reactivity to threat, and event-related potentials (ERPs) are useful neural measures of the dynamics of threat processing. In particular, the late positive potential (LPP) is an ERP component that reflects sustained attention towards motivationally salient information. Previous studies in adults suggest that the LPP is enhanced to threatening stimuli in anxiety but blunted in depression; however, very little work has evaluated the LPP to threat in anxious youth. We measured the LPP during an emotional face-matching task in youth (age 7–19) with current anxiety disorders (n = 53) and healthy controls with no history of psychopathology (n = 37). We evaluated group differences, as well as the effect of depressive symptoms on the LPP. Youth with anxiety disorders exhibited enhanced LPPs to angry and fearful faces 1000–2000 ms after stimulus onset. Higher depressive symptoms were associated with reduced LPPs to angry faces across both groups. Enhanced LPPs to threatening faces were most apparent for social anxiety disorder, as opposed to generalized anxiety or separation anxiety disorder. Results suggest the LPP may be a useful neural measure of threat reactivity in youth with anxiety disorders and highlight the importance of accounting for symptoms of both depression and anxiety when examining emotional processing.

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“…Although various electrophysiological studies have been conducted on the neural attentional bias toward negative stimuli in healthy participants (e.g., Cacioppo, 2004;Forbes & Leitner, 2014;Ito, Larsen, Smith, & Cacioppo, 1998;Schupp et al, 2000;Smith, Cacioppo, Larsen, & Chartrand, 2003;Smith et al, 2006), on social exclusion (e.g., Kawamoto, Nittono, & Ura, 2014;Themanson, Ball, Khatcherian, & Rosen, 2014), and in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (e.g., MacNamara, Post, Kennedy, Rabinak, & Phan, 2013), or on the general effects of social isolation on brain activity (e.g., in humans' sleep EEG; Gemignani et al, 2014;For reviews: Cacioppo & Patrick, 2008;, little is known about the spatio-temporal dynamics of the brain states sustaining the automatic detection of social threat in the brain of individuals high versus low in loneliness (Cacioppo, Balogh, et al, 2015).…”

Section: Loneliness and Social Threatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Loneliness and implicit attention to social threat: A high-performance electrical neuroimaging study

Cacioppo

Bangee

Balogh

et al. 2015

Cognitive Neuroscience

110

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Prior research has suggested that loneliness is associated with an implicit hypervigilance to social threats-an assumption in line with the evolutionary model of loneliness that indicates feeling socially isolated (or on the social perimeter) leads to increased attention and surveillance of the social world and an unwitting focus on self-preservation. Little is known, however, about the temporal dynamics for social threat (vs. nonsocial threat) in the lonely brains. We used high-density electrical neuroimaging and a behavioral task including social and nonsocial threat (and neutral) pictures to investigate the brain dynamics of implicit processing for social threat vs. nonsocial threat stimuli in lonely participants (N = 10), compared to nonlonely individuals (N = 9). The present study provides evidence that social threat images are differentiated from nonsocial threat stimuli more quickly in the lonely (~116 ms after stimulus onset) than nonlonely (~252 ms after stimulus onset) brains. That speed of threat processing in lonely individuals is in accord with the evolutionary model of loneliness. Brain source estimates expanded these results by suggesting that lonely (but not nonlonely) individuals showed early recruitment of brain areas involved in attention and self-representation.

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Electrocortical processing of social signals of threat in combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder

Cited by 58 publications

References 91 publications

Prior exposure to extreme pain alters neural response to pain in others

Prior exposure to extreme pain alters neural response to pain in others

Enhanced Neural Reactivity to Threatening Faces in Anxious Youth: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials

Loneliness and implicit attention to social threat: A high-performance electrical neuroimaging study

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