The DOI matches its Crossref record; 152 of the 152 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Executive function and PTSD: disengaging from trauma.
Open accessAbstract
Neuropsychological approaches represent an important avenue for identifying susceptibility and resiliency factors relating to the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms post-trauma. This review will summarize results from prospective longitudinal and retrospective cross-sectional studies investigating executive function associated with PTSD. This research points specifically towards subtle impairments in response inhibition and attention regulation that may predate trauma exposure, serve as risk factors for the development of PTSD, and relate to the severity of symptoms. These impairments may be exacerbated within emotional or trauma-related contexts, and may relate to dysfunction within dorsal prefrontal networks. A model is presented concerning how such impairments may contribute to the clinical profile of PTSD and lead to the use of alternative coping styles such as avoidance. Further neuropsychological research is needed to identify the effects of treatment on cognitive function and to potentially characterize mechanisms of current PTSD treatments. Knowledge gained from cognitive and neuroscientific research may prove valuable for informing the future development of novel, more effective, treatments for PTSD. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder'.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Finally, individuals with PTSD have shown impairments in executive dysfunction that can be traced to the prefrontal cortex (Shin et al., 2006; Hopper et al., 2007; Aupperle et al., 2012; Swick et al., 2013; DeGutis et al., 2015; Fenster et al., 2018; Holmes et al., 2018; Lebois et al., 2020).”
From How Processing of Sensory Information From the Internal and External Worlds Shape the Perception and Engagement With the World in the Aftermath of Trauma: Implications for PTSD (2021) · cites this paper as Aupperle et al., 2012
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“PTSD has been linked to impaired attention regulation and inhibitory control [[13], [14], [15], [16]].”
From A randomized controlled trial of yoga vs nonaerobic exercise for veterans with PTSD: Understanding efficacy, mechanisms of change, and mode of delivery (2021) · cites this paper as [13]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“However, a review of the literature including a wider range of inhibition tasks suggests that individuals with PTSD do experience inhibition deficits (Aupperle et al., 2012).”
From Advancing understanding of executive function impairments and psychopathology: bridging the gap between clinical and cognitive approaches (2015) · cites this paper as Aupperle et al., 2012
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Finally, there is inconsistent evidence for planning deficits associated with PTSD (Aupperle et al., 2012).”
From Advancing understanding of executive function impairments and psychopathology: bridging the gap between clinical and cognitive approaches (2015) · cites this paper as Aupperle et al., 2012
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Semantic verbal fluency is also impaired in individuals with BD (medium effect sizes), OCD (small effect sizes), and ADHD (small effect sizes), while there is inconsistent evidence for verbal fluency in individuals with PTSD (Aupperle et al., 2012).”
From Advancing understanding of executive function impairments and psychopathology: bridging the gap between clinical and cognitive approaches (2015) · cites this paper as Aupperle et al., 2012
The check wasn’t confident either way, so it gives no verdict — never disputed.
In the citing paper
“As described above, the dorsal prefrontal cortex is thought to be critical for multisensory integration (Aupperle et al., 2012; Picó-Pérez et al., 2017) and its activation is necessary for carrying out additional executive functioning tasks, including emotion regulation (Menon, 2011; Cromheeke and Mueller, 2014).”
From How Processing of Sensory Information From the Internal and External Worlds Shape the Perception and Engagement With the World in the Aftermath of Trauma: Implications for PTSD (2021) · cites this paper as Aupperle et al., 2012
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the citing paper
“At the center of the cognitive control disturbance is difficulty disengaging attention from salient stimuli that may be interpreted as potentially threatening, even if neutral or positively valenced”
From Exercise Intervention in PTSD: A Narrative Review and Rationale for Implementation (2019) · cites this paper as [75]
In the citing paper
“The resulting intrusions and arousal can contribute to the welldocumented deficits in neuropsychological functions such as concentration, sustained attention, executive control, and working memory 111 .”
From Post‐traumatic stress disorder: a state‐of‐the‐art review of evidence and challenges (2019) · cites this paper as [111]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
James, W. (1891) · Personality Culture Society · doi:10.1037/11059-000 · Cited by 25,876
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey
Kessler, R. C. (1995) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1995.03950240066012 · Cited by 10,379 · cited 2×
“other real-life horrorsdat some point in their lives (Kessler et al., 1995).”
VALIDITY OF THE TRAIL MAKING TEST AS AN INDICATOR OF ORGANIC BRAIN DAMAGE
Reitan, R. M. (1958) · Perceptual and Motor Skills · doi:10.2466/pms.1958.8.3.271 · Cited by 8,167 · cited 3×
“Classical measures of flexibility and switching include the Trail-Making Test (TMT, Partington and Leiter, 1949; Reynolds, 2002; Delis, et al 2001; Reitan, 1958), involving connection of " dots " while switching between letter and number (i.e., 1-A- 2-B-3-C), and verbal fluency switching (as in the ), while others hav…”
Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex
Bechara, A., Damasio, A. R., Damasio, H., & Anderson, S. W. (1994) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(94)90018-3 · Cited by 6,128
Emotional processing of fear: Exposure to corrective information.
Foa, E. B., & Kozak, M. J. (1986) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.99.1.20 · Cited by 5,396 · cited 3×
“Persistent use of avoidance strategies keeps individuals from situations in which they could potentially learn to inhibit re-experiencing and hyperarousal symptomsdthus helping maintain the disorder (Foa and Kozak, 1986).”
Specific impairments of planning
Shallice, T. (1982) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.1982.0082 · Cited by 3,741
Testing the efficiency and independence of attentional networks
Fan, J., McCandliss, B. D., Sommer, T., Raz, A., & Posner, M. I. (2002) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/089892902317361886 · Cited by 3,717
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III
Ryan, J. J., & Lopez, S. J. (2001) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-1185-4_2 · Cited by 3,680
Emotion, Decision Making and the Orbitofrontal Cortex
Bechara, A. (2000) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/10.3.295 · Cited by 3,589 · cited 1×
“Many decision making tasks (e.g., Iowa Gambling Task) have been proposed to involve not only rational input regarding the objective value of choices, but also an " emotional " or " somatic " input directing an individual towards one choice over another (Bechara et al., 2000, 2003).”
Etkin, A., & Wager, T. D. (2007) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2007.07030504 · Cited by 3,391 · cited 2×
“, 2007) and meta-analyses (Etkin and Wager, 2007) and suggest hyperactivation within limbic regions (particularly amygdala and insula) and hypoactivation of prefrontal regions, including anterior cingulate (ACC; including both rostral and dorsal) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC).”
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Partington, 1949, Partington's pathway test, Psychol. Serv. Center Bull., 1, 9
- Rey, 1941, L'examen psychologique dans les cas d'encephalopathie traumatique, Arch. Psychol, 28, 286
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Snyder, H. R., Miyake, A., & Hankin, B. L. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00328 · Cited by 946
Neural mechanisms of motivated forgetting
Anderson, M. C., & Hanslmayr, S. (2014) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2014.03.002 · Cited by 533
Post‐traumatic stress disorder: a state‐of‐the‐art review of evidence and challenges
Bryant, R. A. (2019) · World Psychiatry · doi:10.1002/wps.20656 · Cited by 528
A quantitative meta-analysis of neurocognitive functioning in posttraumatic stress disorder.
Scott, J. C., Matt, G. E., Wrocklage, K. M., Crnich, C., Jordan, J., Southwick, S. M., Krystal, J. H., & Schweinsburg, B. C. (2015) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0038039 · Cited by 513
Brain circuit dysfunction in post-traumatic stress disorder: from mouse to man
Fenster, R. J., Lebois, L. A. M., Ressler, K. J., & Suh, J. (2018) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/s41583-018-0039-7 · Cited by 456
Metadata
- Authors
- Aupperle, R. L., Melrose, A. J., Stein, M. B., & Paulus, M. P.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Corresponding author
- Aupperle, Robin L.
- Venue
- Neuropharmacology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2012-02
- Volume
- 62
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 686-694
- ISSN
- 0028-3908 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4719148
- OpenAlex
- W2106557234
- Cited by
- 657
- References
- 147
- Citations by year
- 2026: 30 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 47 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 49 · 2021: 58 · 2020: 65 · 2019: 62 · 2018: 58 · 2017: 46 · 2016: 49 · 2015: 44 · 2014: 27 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 3.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Neuropharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA016663)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Clinical Neurology › Traumatic Brain Injury Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Keywords
- post-traumatic stress disorder, executive function, response inhibition, attentional control, prefrontal cortex, avoidance coping, risk factors, symptom severity, trauma exposure, neuropsychological assessment, PTSD treatment
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Attention, Humans, Inhibition, Psychological, Memory, Short-Term, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Executive Function
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
