RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Neurocognitive, emotional and neuroendocrine correlates of exposure to sexual assault in women
JF Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience
JO J Psychiatry Neurosci
FD Canadian Medical Association
SP 318
OP 326
DO 10.1503/jpn.170116
VO 43
IS 5
A1 Yann Quidé
A1 Helen Cléry
A1 Frédéric Andersson
A1 Céline Descriaud
A1 Pauline Saint-Martin
A1 Laurent Barantin
A1 Valérie Gissot
A1 Marie-Paule Carrey Le Bas
A1 Sylvie Osterreicher
A1 Diane Dufour-Rainfray
A1 Bruno Brizard
A1 Maja Ogielska
A1 Wissam El-Hage
YR 2018
UL http://jpn.ca/content/43/5/318.abstract
AB Background: Survivors of sexual assault are vulnerable to long-term negative psychological and physical health outcomes, but few studies have investigated changes in cognition, emotional processing and brain function in the early stages after sexual assault. We used a multimodal approach to identify the cognitive and emotional correlates associated with sexual assault in women.Methods: Twenty-seven female survivors of sexual assault were included within 4 weeks of the traumatic event, and they were compared with 20 age-matched controls. Participants underwent functional MRI while performing cognitive/emotional tasks (n-back, emotional go/no-go, mental imagery). We also measured diurnal salivary cortisol and conducted neuropsychological assessments of attention and memory abilities.Results: Relative to the control group, the survivor group had lower levels of morning cortisol and showed attentional deficits. We observed no between-group differences in brain activation during the n-back or mental imagery tasks. During the emotional go/no-go task, however, the survivor group showed a lack of deactivation in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex when processing emotional material, relative to neutral material. Exploratory analyses in the survivor group indicated that symptom severity was negatively associated with cerebellar activation when positive emotional (happy) content interfered with response inhibition, and positively associated with cerebellar activation when thinking of positive (happy) memories.Limitations: The small sample size was the main limitation of this study.Conclusion: Dysfunctions in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the cerebellum may represent early functional brain modifications that alter higher cognitive processes when emotional material is involved.