Anxiety Patients Show Reduced Working Memory Related dlPFC Activation During Safety and Threat.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Anxiety patients exhibit deficits in cognitive tasks that require prefrontal control of attention, including those that tap working memory (WM). However, it is unclear whether these deficits reflect threat-related processes or symptoms of the disorder. Here, we distinguish between these hypotheses by determining the effect of shock threat versus safety on the neural substrates of WM performance in anxiety patients and healthy controls.

Methods

Patients, diagnosed with generalized and/or social anxiety disorder, and controls performed blocks of an N-back WM task during periods of safety and threat of shock. We recorded blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) activity during the task, and investigated the effect of clinical anxiety (patients vs. controls) and threat on

SUBMITTER: Balderston NL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5079837 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature