Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-2025
Publisher
American Psychological Association
Source Publication
Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy
Source ISSN
1942-9681
Original Item ID
DOI: 10.1037/tra0001586
Abstract
Objective: Given the prevalence and significant burden of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), identifying early predictors of symptom development following trauma is critical. PTSD is a heterogeneous disorder comprised of distinct symptom clusters-reexperiencing, avoidance, negative mood, and hyperarousal-that contribute to the broad range of possible symptom profiles. Affective and attentional regulation processes, such as emotional conflict detection, are impaired in individuals with PTSD; however, the neural mechanisms underlying these alterations and their predictive utility for the development of PTSD symptoms remain unclear.
Method: Traumatic injury survivors (N = 49) without traumatic brain injury were recruited from the emergency department of an urban, Level-1 trauma center. Within 1 month of trauma exposure, participants completed a well-characterized emotional conflict task during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Participants returned 6-month later for a clinical assessment of PTSD symptoms. Using a region-of-interest mask derived from whole-brain voxelwise analyses during emotional conflict detection (vs. no emotional conflict detection) we examined whether differential neural activity predicted 6-month PTSD symptom cluster severity.
Results: Greater activation of the right middle frontal gyrus during emotional conflict detection prospectively predicted lower PTSD avoidance symptom severity 6 months later (above and beyond the effects of self-reported baseline PTSD and depressive symptoms, previous traumatic life events, racial discrimination, age, sex, and injury severity).
Conclusions: Neural processes of emotion conflict detection measured in the early aftermath of a potentially traumatic event are useful as predictors for the development of PTSD symptoms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
Recommended Citation
Davis, Kaley E.; Tomas, Carissa W.; Webb, Kate E.; Huggins, Ashley A.; deRoon-Cassini, Terri A.; Larson, Christine L.; and Fitzgerald, Jacklynn M., "Neural Processes of Emotional Conflict Detection and Prediction of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Clusters in Traumatic Injury Survivors" (2025). Psychology Faculty Research and Publications. 607.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/psych_fac/607
Comments
Accepted version. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. Vol. 17, No. 2 (February 2025): 323-330. DOI. © 2025 American Psychological Association. Used with permission.