Background and objectives

Few studies have evaluated the link between working memory (WM) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Further, it is unknown whether this relationship is accounted for by other relevant variables including negative affect, emotional dysregulation, or general non-WM-related cognitive control deficits, which are associated with PTSD. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which a computerized WM task could predict PTSD symptomology incrementally beyond the contribution of other relevant variables associated with PTSD.

Methods

Thirty veterans were eligible to complete emotional symptom questionnaires, a heart-rate variability measure, and computerized tasks (i.e., emotional Stroop and automated complex span tasks). A three-stage hierarchical regression was conducted with the PCL-5 total score and symptom clusters (i.e., re-experiencing, avoidance, hyperarousal, and negative cognition/mood) as the dependent variable.

Results

Results revealed that only the re-experiencing symptom cluster was significantly predicted by executive, verbal, and visuospatial WM tasks, which explained an additional 29.7% of the variance over and above other relevant variables. Most notably, the visuospatial task was the only WM task that significantly explained PCL-5 re-experiencing symptoms.

Limitations

This study was based on a small sample of veterans with PTSD and causality cannot be determined with this cross-sectional study.

Conclusions

Overall, the results suggest that deficits in visuospatial WM are significantly associated with PTSD re-experiencing symptoms after controlling for other relevant variables. Further research should evaluate whether an intervention to improve visuospatial WM capacity can be implemented to reduce re-experiencing symptoms.

中文翻译：

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PTSD 中空间工作记忆与再体验症状之间的关联

背景和目标

很少有研究评估工作记忆 (WM) 和创伤后应激障碍 (PTSD) 之间的联系。此外，尚不清楚这种关系是否由其他相关变量解释，包括负面影响、情绪失调或与 PTSD 相关的一般非 WM 相关认知控制缺陷。本研究的目的是确定计算机化的 WM 任务可以在多大程度上超越与 PTSD 相关的其他相关变量的贡献来逐步预测 PTSD 症状。

方法

三十名退伍军人有资格完成情绪症状问卷、心率变异性测量和计算机化任务（即情绪 Stroop 和自动复杂跨度任务）。以 PCL-5 总分和症状群（即重新体验、回避、过度唤醒和消极认知/情绪）作为因变量进行了三阶段层次回归。

结果

结果显示，执行、语言和视觉空间 WM 任务仅可显着预测再体验症状群，这解释了超过其他相关变量的额外 29.7% 的方差。最值得注意的是，视觉空间任务是唯一能够显着解释 PCL-5 再体验症状的 WM 任务。

限制

这项研究是基于一小部分患有 PTSD 的退伍军人样本，这项横断面研究无法确定因果关系。

结论

总体而言，结果表明，在控制其他相关变量后，视觉空间 WM 的缺陷与 PTSD 再体验症状显着相关。进一步的研究应该评估是否可以实施改善视觉空间 WM 能力的干预措施以减少再体验症状。