Latent Cause Inference During Extinction Learning in Trauma-Exposed Individuals with and Without PTSD

Details

• Personal Author:
  Brinkman H ; Feder A ; Kowalchyk M ; Monti E ; Norbury A ; Pietrzak RH ; Schiller D
• Description:
  Background: Problems in learning that sights, sounds, or situations that were once associated with danger have become safe (extinction learning) may explain why some individuals suffer prolonged psychological distress following traumatic experiences. Although simple learning models have been unable to provide a convincing account of why this learning fails, it has recently been proposed that this may be explained by individual differences in beliefs about the causal structure of the environment. Methods: Here, we tested two competing hypotheses as to how differences in causal inference might be related to trauma-related psychopathology, using extinction learning data collected from clinically well-characterised individuals with varying degrees of post-traumatic stress (N = 56). Model parameters describing individual differences in causal inference were related to multiple post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptom dimensions via network analysis. Results: Individuals with more severe PTSD were more likely to assign observations from conditioning and extinction stages to a single underlying cause. Specifically, greater re-experiencing symptom severity was associated with a lower likelihood of inferring that multiple causes were active in the environment. Conclusions: We interpret these results as providing evidence of a primary deficit in discriminative learning in participants with more severe PTSD. Specifically, a tendency to attribute a greater diversity of stimulus configurations to the same underlying cause resulted in greater uncertainty about stimulus-outcome associations, impeding learning both that certain stimuli were safe, and that certain stimuli were no longer dangerous. In the future, better understanding of the role of causal inference in trauma-related psychopathology may help refine cognitive therapies for these disorders. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Safety Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Causal Inference; Extinction Learning; PTSD; Generalization; Computational Psychiatry PTSD; Post-traumatic Stress Disorder; Psychological Effects; Traumatic Incident Stress; Mental Health; Mental Processes;
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291721000647
• ISSN:
  0033-2917
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Connecticut ; New York ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  52
• Issue:
  16
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20064979
• Citation:
  Psychol Med 2022 Dec; 52(16):3834-3845
• Contact Point Address:
  Agnes Norbury, Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
• Email:
  agnes.norbury@mssm.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2023
• Performing Organization:
  Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20160901
• Source Full Name:
  Psychological Medicine
• End Date:
  20190831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f8743bf20c342a5c0fd6fe766afbf7b1ecc54aa653d44e62fdec835aacab39b1165df64279b9a97aa89edc5f7a9f14554a1723aeda1312b3902ec907f56dab26
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/248902/cdc_248902_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 827.66 KB ]