Violence-related PTSD and neural activation when seeing emotionally charged male-female interactions

Dominik A Moser¹, Tatjana Aue², Francesca Suardi³, Hana Kutlikova², Maria I Cordero³, Ana Sancho Rossignol², Nicolas Favez², Sandra Rusconi Serpa³, Daniel S Schechter³

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland, Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland, Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland dominik.moser@unige.ch.
² Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland, Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
³ Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland, Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland, Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.

PMID: 25062841
PMCID: PMC4420740
DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsu099

Violence-related PTSD and neural activation when seeing emotionally charged male-female interactions

Dominik A Moser et al. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2015 May.

. 2015 May;10(5):645-53.

doi: 10.1093/scan/nsu099. Epub 2014 Jul 25.

Authors

Dominik A Moser¹, Tatjana Aue², Francesca Suardi³, Hana Kutlikova², Maria I Cordero³, Ana Sancho Rossignol², Nicolas Favez², Sandra Rusconi Serpa³, Daniel S Schechter³

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland, Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland, Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland dominik.moser@unige.ch.
² Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland, Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
³ Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland, Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland, Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.

PMID: 25062841
PMCID: PMC4420740
DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsu099

Abstract

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that involves impaired regulation of the fear response to traumatic reminders. This study tested how women with male-perpetrated interpersonal violence-related PTSD (IPV-PTSD) differed in their brain activation from healthy controls (HC) when exposed to scenes of male-female interaction of differing emotional content. Sixteen women with symptoms of IPV-PTSD and 19 HC participated in this study. During magnetic resonance imaging, participants watched a stimulus protocol of 23 different 20 s silent epochs of male-female interactions taken from feature films, which were neutral, menacing or prosocial. IPV-PTSD participants compared with HC showed (i) greater dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) activation in response to menacing vs prosocial scenes and (ii) greater anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), right hippocampus activation and lower ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) activty in response to emotional vs neutral scenes. The fact that IPV-PTSD participants compared with HC showed lower activity of the ventral ACC during emotionally charged scenes regardless of the valence of the scenes suggests that impaired social perception among IPV-PTSD patients transcends menacing contexts and generalizes to a wider variety of emotionally charged male-female interactions.

Keywords: Parental PTSD; emotion regulation; fMRI; human interaction; interpersonal violence.

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Figures

**Fig. 1**
Mean difference in peak voxel activation when participants watched menacing vs neutral film conditions and prosocial vs neutral film conditions. Shown are selected clusters that showed significant group differences. The mean difference for participants diagnosed with IPV-PTSD is shown in red, and the mean difference for HC is shown in blue. Error bars indicate the standard error. The clusters shown are the right hippocampus (top left) dorso-lateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dlPFC and dmPFC, botttom left) and the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)/ventral anterior cingulate (vACC; right side).

**Fig. 2**
Significant main effects of group and group × condition interactions from an ANOVA comparing participants with IPV-PTSD with HC in two contrasts of film conditions (menacing vs neutral and prosocial vs neutral). Slice placement is according to the atlas by the Montreal Neurological Institute. Red areas indicate a main effect of group for menacing and prosocial film conditions, where participants with IPV-PTSD showed greater activation than HC. Blue areas indicate a main effect of group for menacing and prosocial film conditions, where participants with IPV-PTSD showed less activation than HC. Green areas indicate a group × condition interaction, where participants with IPV-PTSD showed greater activation than HC during menacing compared with prosocial scenes (see also Table 1). Abbreviations: dlPFC = dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dmPFC = dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, vACC = ventral anterior cingulate cortex, vmPFC = ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

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References

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Violence-related PTSD and neural activation when seeing emotionally charged male-female interactions

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Violence-related PTSD and neural activation when seeing emotionally charged male-female interactions

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