Background and objectives

Childhood abuse and neglect increase the risk for psychiatric disorders (e.g., depression and anxiety) during adulthood and have been associated with deficits in cognitive control. The specific mechanisms underlying these cognitive control deficits are still unknown.

Methods

This study examined the expectation for reward to improve inhibitory control in young women (ages 18–35 years) with a history of childhood sexual and/or physical abuse (AG, N = 28), childhood emotional and/or physical neglect (NG, N = 30), or unaffected comparison women (HC, N = 40). They completed a previously validated rewarded (color-word) Stroop task and filled out questionnaires on depression, anxiety, and resilience.

Results

Surprisingly, a significant group by reward interaction revealed larger performance benefits under reward prospect (relative to no-reward) for the AG group relative to both the NG and HC groups.

Limitations

A small sample size limiting generalizability.

Conclusions

These results demonstrate sensitivity of abused subjects to reward in modulating cognitive control and might aid in discussing whether using reward schedules during therapeutic interventions could be effective.

中文翻译：

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奖励前景改善了有童年性虐待和身体虐待史的女大学生的抑制控制

背景和目标

童年时期的虐待和忽视会增加成年期精神障碍（例如抑郁和焦虑）的风险，并与认知控制缺陷有关。这些认知控制缺陷背后的具体机制仍然未知。

方法

本研究调查了有儿童期性虐待和/或身体虐待史 (AG, N = 28)、儿童期情感和/或身体忽视 (NG, N = 30），或未受影响的比较女性（HC，N = 40）。他们完成了先前经过验证的奖励（颜色词）Stroop 任务，并填写了有关抑郁、焦虑和复原力的问卷。

结果

令人惊讶的是，与 NG 和 HC 组相比，AG 组的奖励交互作用显着组在奖励前景下（相对于无奖励）显示出更大的绩效收益。

限制

小样本量限制了普遍性。

结论

这些结果表明，受虐待的受试者在调节认知控制方面对奖励的敏感性，并可能有助于讨论在治疗干预期间使用奖励计划是否有效。