The effects of trauma on feedback processing: an MEG study

Frontiers in Neuroscience, vol. 17, pp. 1172549

Abstract

The cognitive impact of psychological trauma can manifest as a range of post-traumatic stress symptoms that are often attributed to impairments in learning from positive and negative outcomes, aka reinforcement learning. Research on the impact of trauma on reinforcement learning has mainly been inconclusive. This study aimed to circumscribe the impact of psychological trauma on reinforcement learning in the context of neural response in time and frequency domains. Two groups of participants were tested - those who had experienced psychological trauma and a control group who had not - while they performed a probabilistic classification task that dissociates learning from positive and negative feedback during a magnetoencephalography (MEG) examination. While the exposure to trauma did not exhibit any effects on learning accuracy or response time for positive or negative feedback, MEG cortical activity was modulated in response to positive feedback. In particular, the medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortices (mOFC and lOFC) exhibited increased activity, while the insular and supramarginal cortices showed decreased activity during positive feedback presentation. Furthermore, when receiving negative feedback, the trauma group displayed higher activity in the medial portion of the superior frontal cortex. The timing of these activity changes occurred between 160 and 600 ms post feedback presentation. Analysis of the time-frequency domain revealed heightened activity in theta and alpha frequency bands (4-10 Hz) in the lOFC in the trauma group. Moreover, dividing the two groups according to their learning performance, the activity for the non-learner subgroup was found to be lower in lOFC and higher in the supramarginal cortex. These differences were found in the trauma group only. The results highlight the localization and neural dynamics of feedback processing that could be affected by exposure to psychological trauma. This approach and associated findings provide a novel framework for understanding the cognitive correlates of psychological trauma in relation to neural dynamics in the space, time, and frequency domains. Subsequent work will focus on the stratification of cognitive and neural correlates as a function of various symptoms of psychological trauma. Clinically, the study findings and approach open the possibility for neuromodulation interventions that synchronize cognitive and psychological constructs for individualized treatment.

Authors 8

1. Abdul-Rahman Sawalma Aachen Faculty of Medicine

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Al-Quds University · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany

   Palestinian Neuroscience Initiative, Al-Quds University, Abu Dis, Palestine

2. Christian M. Kiefer Aachen Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science and Natural Sciences

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science and Natural Sciences, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany

3. Frank Boers

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany

4. Nadim Jon Shah Aachen Department of Neurology

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Universitätsklinikum Aachen · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Neurology, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-11), Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany

   Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA)-Brain - Translational Medicine, Aachen, Germany

   Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA)-Brain – Translational Medicine, Aachen, Germany

5. Nibal Khudeish Aachen Faculty of Medicine

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany

6. Irene Neuner Aachen Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany

   Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA)-Brain - Translational Medicine, Aachen, Germany

   Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA)-Brain – Translational Medicine, Aachen, Germany

7. Mohammad M. Herzallah

   Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey · Al-Quds University

   Affiliation as printed

   Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, United States

   Palestinian Neuroscience Initiative, Al-Quds University, Abu Dis, Palestine

8. Jürgen Dammers corresponding Aachen Faculty of Medicine

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany