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. 2017 Dec 24:17:935-942.
doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2017.12.034. eCollection 2018.

Dysfunctional frontal lobe activity during inhibitory tasks in individuals with childhood trauma: An event-related potential study

Sungkean Kim  1 , Ji Sun Kim  2 , Min Jin Jin  3 , Chang-Hwan Im  4 , Seung-Hwan Lee  5
Affiliations

Dysfunctional frontal lobe activity during inhibitory tasks in individuals with childhood trauma: An event-related potential study

Sungkean Kim et al. Neuroimage Clin. .

Abstract

Background: Individuals who experience childhood trauma are vulnerable to various psychological and behavioral problems throughout their lifetime. This study aimed to investigate whether individuals with childhood trauma show altered frontal lobe activity during response inhibition tasks.

Methods: In total, 157 healthy individuals were recruited and instructed to perform a Go/Nogo task during electroencephalography recording. Source activities of N2 and P3 of Nogo event-related potentials (ERP) were analyzed. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS) were applied. Individuals were divided into three groups based on their total CTQ score: low CTQ, middle CTQ, and high CTQ groups.

Results: The high CTQ group exhibited significantly higher BIS scores than the low CTQ group. P3 amplitudes of the differences between Nogo and Go ERP waves exhibited higher mean values in the low CTQ than the high CTQ group, with trending effects. In Nogo-P3, the source activities of the right anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral medial frontal cortex (MFC), bilateral superior frontal gyrus (SFG), and right precentral gyrus were significantly lower in the high CTQ than the low CTQ group. Motor impulsivity showed a significant negative correlation with activities of the bilateral MFC and SFG in Nogo-P3 conditions.

Conclusions: Our study revealed that individuals with childhood trauma have inhibitory failure and frontal lobe dysfunction in regions related to Nogo-P3.

Keywords: Childhood trauma; Frontal lobe dysfunction; Go/Nogo task; Inhibitory function; Source activity.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Grand averages and topographies of N2d and P3d for three CTQ groups (a) Grand averages of N2d and P3d (Nogo minus Go) at the Fz, FCz, Cz, and Pz electrodes for the low, middle, and high childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ) groups. (b) Scalp topographies of N2d and P3d components for the low, high, and low minus high CTQ groups.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Differences in the source activity of the Nogo-P3 component between the low and high childhood trauma questionnaire groups (a) right anterior cingulate cortex, (b) bilateral medial frontal cortex, (c) bilateral superior frontal gyrus, and (d) right precentral gyrus. The red color denotes the decreased source activity in the regions related to Nogo-P3 for the high CTQ group.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Brain regional correlations with some critical psychological scores. The left medial frontal cortex and right superior frontal gyrus of Nogo-P3 showed a significant correlation with the motor impulsivity subscale score of the Barratt impulsivity scale. The left medial frontal cortex of Nogo-P3 showed significant correlation with the childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ) and the emotional neglect subscale score of CTQ.
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