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Severity of childhood maltreatment predicts reaction times and heart rate variability during an emotional working memory task in borderline personality disorder La gravedad del maltrato infantil predice los tiempos de reaccion y la variabilidad de la frecuencia cardiaca durante una tarea de memoria de trabajo emocional en el trastorno limite de la personalidad 童年期虐待严重程度预测边缘性人格障碍情绪工作记忆任务中的反应时间和心率变异性

ABSTRACT: ABSTRACT Background: Difficulties in emotion regulation are a core symptom of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and often interfere with cognitive functions, such as working memory (WM). Traumatic childhood experiences, including severe maltreatment, can contribute to emotion dysregulation, possibly mediated by changes in high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV). However, it is not yet entirely understood if HF-HRV alterations underlie impaired WM during emotional distraction in BPD and if this is related to traumatic childhood experiences and to comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Objective: Our aim was to investigate performance (reaction times, RTs) and HF-HRV during an emotional working memory task (EWMT) in relation to childhood maltreatment severity and comorbid PTSD in BPD. Method: Eighty-one women (n = 28 healthy controls (HC) and n = 53 BPD patients of which n = 18 had comorbid PTSD) performed an adapted Sternberg item recognition WM task with neutral and negative social cues (interpersonal scenes from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), and neutral, fearful, and angry faces) as distractors. Dependent variables were RTs of correct trials and HF-HRV. Childhood maltreatment was assessed with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Results: Compared to healthy participants, patients with BPD showed prolonged RTs across all distractor conditions with social cues, regardless of their emotional valence. Patients with BPD, especially those with PTSD, demonstrated reduced HF-HRV both at rest and during EWMT. Severity of childhood maltreatment predicted longer RTs and lower HF-HRV during the EWMT. Conclusions: Findings suggest that adverse childhood experiences accelerate difficulties in shifting attention away from social information and that these are more pronounced in individuals with BPD. Reduced HF-HRV (low parasympathetic-tonus) may be an important psychophysiological mechanism underlying impaired WM in the presence of distracting social cues in patients with BPD, especially in those with comorbid PTSD.

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This study provides evidence that childhood maltreatment experiences are associated with hypersensitivity to social information and reduced high-frequency heart rate variability during a working memory task in borderline personality disorder.

SUBMITTER: Krause-Utz A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9262367 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Working memory is critically involved in ignoring emotional distraction while maintaining goal-directed behavior. Antagonistic interactions between brain regions implicated in emotion processing, e.g., amygdala, and brain regions involved in cognitive control, e.g., dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dlPFC, dmPFC), may play an important role in coping with emotional distraction. We previously reported prolonged reaction times associated with amygdala hyperreactivity during emotional distraction in interpersonally traumatized borderline personality disorder (BPD) patients compared to healthy controls (HC): Participants performed a working memory task, while neutral versus negative distractors (interpersonal scenes from the International Affective Picture System) were presented. Here, we re-analyzed data from this study using psychophysiological interaction analysis. The bilateral amygdala and bilateral dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) were defined as seed regions of interest. Whole-brain regression analyses with reaction times and self-reported increase of dissociation were performed. During emotional distraction, reduced amygdala connectivity with clusters in the left dorsolateral and ventrolateral PFC was observed in the whole group. Compared to HC, BPD patients showed a stronger coupling of both seeds with a cluster in the right dmPFC and stronger positive amygdala connectivity with bilateral (para)hippocampus. Patients further demonstrated stronger positive dACC connectivity with left posterior cingulate, insula, and frontoparietal regions during emotional distraction. Reaction times positively predicted amygdala connectivity with right dmPFC and (para)hippocampus, while dissociation positively predicted amygdala connectivity with right ACC during emotional distraction in patients. Our findings suggest increased attention to task-irrelevant (emotional) social information during a working memory task in interpersonally traumatized patients with BPD.

Project description:BackgroundChildhood maltreatment, such as severe emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and neglect, has been linked to impulse control problems and dysfunctional emotional coping. In borderline personality disorder (BPD), a history of childhood maltreatment may worsen difficulties in emotion regulation, which may in turn give rise to impulsive behaviours. The aim of this self-report study was to investigate associations between childhood maltreatment severity, emotion regulation difficulties, and impulsivity in women with BPD compared to healthy and clinical controls.MethodsSixty-one female patients with BPD, 57 clinical controls (CC, women with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and/or Substance Use Disorder, without BPD), and 60 female healthy controls (HC) completed self-report scales on childhood trauma (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, CTQ), difficulties in emotion regulation (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, DERS), and impulsivity (UPPS Impulsive Behaviour Scale). A conditional process analysis was performed to investigate whether emotion dysregulation statistically mediated the effect of childhood maltreatment severity on impulsivity depending on group (BPD vs. CC vs. HC).ResultsChildhood maltreatment, particularly emotional maltreatment, was positively associated with impulsivity and emotion regulation difficulties across all groups. Difficulties in emotion regulation statistically mediated the effect of childhood maltreatment on impulsivity in BPD, but not in the other groups.ConclusionIn the context of current conceptualizations of BPD and previous research, findings suggest that problems with emotion regulation may be related to a history of childhood maltreatment, which may in turn enhance impulsivity. Targeting emotion dysregulation in psychotherapy and discussing it in relation to childhood maltreatment can help decreasing impulsive behaviors in individuals with BPD. Given the correlational design of our study which does not allow causal conclusions, future studies have to employ prospective, experimental designs and include larger sample sizes to corroborate associations between childhood maltreatment, emotion dysregulation, and impulsivity.

Project description:The purpose of the present study was to examine the influence of personality traits on the impact of emotional stimuli focusing on n-back task performance and brain activity changes. Previous neuroimaging studies have reported that individual differences in emotional processing can be attributed to personality traits, which is linked to the hemisphere-specific activity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in response to emotional stimuli. Thirty right-handed healthy young male participants were recruited in this study and classified into two groups, the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) group and behavioral activation system (BAS) group, based on their scores on the BIS/BAS scale. Participants saw six emotional images (two each with negative, neutral, and positive valence), which were selected from the International Affective Picture System and validated in a preliminary experiment. Then, a dual 2-back task that simultaneously employed auditory-verbal and visuospatial stimuli was conducted. Additionally, the concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin (Oxy-Hb) changes in the DLPFC was measured during the image presentation and dual 2-back task by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). The task performance showed a significantly increased reaction time (RT) in the negative valence independent of personality traits. The results of Oxy-Hb changes showed a significant interaction between personality traits and emotional valence. Further, the hemisphere-subgroup analysis revealed that the right DLPFC activity was significantly higher in the negative valence than in the neutral valence in the BIS group; the right DLPFC activity was also significantly higher in the BIS group than in the BAS group in the positive valence. There was no main effect or interaction in the left DLPFC activity. These findings suggest the importance of considering personality traits when examining the impact of emotional stimuli. Further studies with large sample sizes warranted to examine the influence emotional stimuli exert on working memory performance, considering the personality traits to better understand individual differences in emotional processing.

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