2002/01/01 by Linda J. Metzger, Margaret A. Carson, Margaret Carson +5 · 3 citations
Medicine · Neuroscience · #Traumatic Brain Injury Research #Intensive Care Unit Cognitive Disorders #Anesthesia and Neurotoxicity Research
paper · doi:10.1111/1469-8986.3910049
Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been found to show several event‐related brain potential (ERP) abnormalities including reduced target P3b amplitude, P50 suppression, and P2 amplitude/intensity slope. Female Vietnam nurse veterans with ( n = 29) and without ( n = 38) current PTSD completed P50 paired‐click, three‐tone “oddball” and four‐tone stimulus‐intensity modulation procedures. Opposite to previous findings, the current PTSD group had larger target P3b amplitudes and increased P2 amplitude/intensity slopes. Reduced P50 suppression was associated with increased severity of general psychopathology, but not with PTSD diagnosis. Findings suggest that target P3b amplitude and P2 amplitude/intensity slope abnormalities reflect different pathophysiological processes. Future research is needed to determine whether the opposite ERP abnormalities observed in this PTSD sample reflect gender‐, trauma‐, or sample‐specific findings.