To investigate how unpredictable threat during goal pursuit impacts fronto-limbic activity and functional connectivity in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), we compared military veterans with PTSD (n = 25) vs. trauma-exposed control (n = 25). Participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while engaged in a computerized chase-and-capture game task that involved optimizing monetary rewards obtained from capturing virtual prey while simultaneously avoiding capture by virtual predators. The game was played under two alternating contexts—one involving exposure to unpredictable task-irrelevant threat from randomly occurring electrical shocks, and a nonthreat control condition. Activation in and functional connectivity between the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) was tested across threat and nonthreat task contexts with generalized psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analyses. PTSD patients reported higher anxiety than controls across contexts. Better task performance represented by successfully avoiding capture by predators under threat compared with nonthreat contexts was associated with stronger left amygdala–vmPFC functional connectivity in controls and greater vmPFC activation in PTSD patients. PTSD symptom severity was negatively correlated with vmPFC activation in trauma-exposed controls and with right amygdala–vmPFC functional connectivity across all participants in the threat relative to nonthreat contexts. The findings showed that veterans with PTSD have disrupted amygdala–vmPFC functional connectivity and greater localized vmPFC processing under threat modulation of goal-directed behavior, specifically related to successfully avoiding loss of monetary rewards. In contrast, trauma survivors without PTSD relied on stronger threat-modulated left amygdala–vmPFC functional connectivity during goal-directed behavior, which may represent a resilience-related functional adaptation.
To investigate how unpredictable threat during goal pursuit impacts fronto-limbic activity and functional connectivity in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), we compared military veterans with PTSD (n = 25) vs. trauma-exposed control (n = 25). Participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while engaged in a computerized chase-and-capture game task that involved optimizing monetary rewards obtained from capturing virtual prey while simultaneously avoiding capture by virtual predators. The game was played under two alternating contexts-one involving exposure to unpredictable task-irrelevant threat from randomly occurring electrical shocks, and a nonthreat control condition. Activation in and functional connectivity between the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) was tested across threat and nonthreat task contexts with generalized psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analyses. PTSD patients reported higher anxiety than controls across contexts. Better task performance represented by successfully avoiding capture by predators under threat compared with nonthreat contexts was associated with stronger left amygdala-vmPFC functional connectivity in controls and greater vmPFC activation in PTSD patients. PTSD symptom severity was negatively correlated with vmPFC activation in trauma-exposed controls and with right amygdala-vmPFC functional connectivity across all participants in the threat relative to nonthreat contexts. The findings showed that veterans with PTSD have disrupted amygdala-vmPFC functional connectivity and greater localized vmPFC processing under threat modulation of goal-directed behavior, specifically related to successfully avoiding loss of monetary rewards. In contrast, trauma survivors without PTSD relied on stronger threat-modulated left amygdala-vmPFC functional connectivity during goal-directed behavior, which may represent a resilience-related functional adaptation. ; Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC) of the VA Office of Mental Health Services; Office of Research and Development (ORD) [5I01CX000748-01, 5I01CX000120-02]; National Institute for Neurological Disorders and StrokeUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke (NINDS) [R01NS086885-01A1]; VA Career Development Awards, from the Clinical Science Research and Development (CSRD) Service [IK2CX000525, IK2CX000718]; VA Career Development Award from the Rehabilitation Research and Development (RRD) [5IK2RX001298]; VA Research Career Scientist Award [11S-RCS-009]; Intramural Research Program at the National Institute of Mental HealthUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH); Office of the Director, National Institutes of HealthUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA [S10 OD 021480]; Mid-Atlantic Healthcare Network ; This project was supported in part by the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC) of the VA Office of Mental Health Services, the Mid-Atlantic Healthcare Network, and the Office of Research and Development (ORD; 5I01CX000748-01, 5I01CX000120-02). Additional financial support was provided by the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS086885-01A1; R.A.M.). Work Group Members: Drs Kimbrel and Dedert were supported by VA Career Development Awards #IK2CX000525 and IK2CX000718, respectively, from the Clinical Science Research and Development (CSR&D) Service. Dr Van Voorhees was supported by a VA Career Development Award (#5IK2RX001298) from the Rehabilitation Research and Development (RR&D). Dr Beckham was supported by a VA Research Career Scientist Award (#11S-RCS-009). A.L.G. was supported by the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute of Mental Health. Research reported in this publication was supported by the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health under Award Number S10 OD 021480.
