Episodic memory after trauma exposure: Medial temporal lobe function is positively related to re-experiencing and inversely related to negative affect symptoms
Open accessAbstract
Hippocampal structure is particularly sensitive to trauma and other stressors. However, previous findings linking hippocampal function with trauma-related psychopathology have been mixed. Heterogeneity in psychological responses to trauma has not been considered with respect to hippocampal function and may contribute to mixed findings. To address these issues, we examined associations between data-driven symptom dimensions and episodic memory formation, a key function of the hippocampus, in a trauma-exposed sample. Symptom dimensions were defined using principal components analysis (PCA) in 3881 trauma-exposed African-American women recruited from primary care waiting rooms of a large urban hospital. Hippocampal and amygdala function were subsequently investigated in an fMRI study of episodic memory formation in a subset of 54 women. Participants viewed scenes with neutral, negative, and positive content during fMRI, and completed a delayed cued recall task. PCA analysis produced five symptom dimensions interpreted as reflecting negative affect, somatic symptoms, re-experiencing, hyper-arousal, and numbing. Re-experiencing was the only symptom type associated with hippocampal function, predicting increased memory encoding-related activation in the hippocampus as well as the amygdala. In contrast, the negative affect component predicted lower amygdala activation for subsequently recalled scenes, and lower functional coupling with other important memory-related regions including the precuneus, inferior frontal gyrus, and occipital cortex. Symptom dimensions were not related to hippocampal volume. The fMRI findings for re-experiencing versus negative affect parallel differences in behavioral memory phenomena in PTSD versus MDD, and highlight a need for more complex models of trauma-related pathology.
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Re-experiencing was the only symptom type associated with amygdala function, predicting increased amygdala activation.
“Re-experiencing was the only symptom type associated with amygdala function, predicting increased amygdala activation.”
From Neuroimaging research in posttraumatic stress disorder – Focus on amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (2019) · cites this paper as Stevens et al. (2018)
The Results section on memory encoding-related fMRI activation reports that re-experiencing was positively associated with amygdala activation. But it also reports an inverse association for negative affect, so re-experiencing was not the only symptom type associated with amygdala activation. (LLM, conf=0.90)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredStevens et al. (2018) PCA on 3881 trauma-exposed African American women elicited five symptom dimensions interpreted as negative affect, somatic symptoms, re-experiencing, hyperarousal, and numbing.
“PCA analysis elicited five symptom dimensions interpreted as reflecting negative effect, somatic symptoms, re-experiencing, hyperarousal, and numbing.”
From Neuroimaging research in posttraumatic stress disorder – Focus on amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (2019) · cites this paper as Stevens et al. (2018)
The negative affect component predicted lower amygdala activation for subsequently recalled scenes.
“In contrast, the negative affect component predicted lower amygdala activation for subsequently recalled scenes (Stevens et al., 2018).”
From Neuroimaging research in posttraumatic stress disorder – Focus on amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (2019) · cites this paper as Stevens et al., 2018
Symptom dimensions were not associated with hippocampal volume.
“Symptom dimensions were not associated with hippocampal volume.”
From Neuroimaging research in posttraumatic stress disorder – Focus on amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (2019) · cites this paper as Stevens et al. (2018)
Reliving was the only symptom related to hippocampal function, predicting increased activation associated with memory encoding in the hippocampus and amygdala.
“Reliving was the only symptom related to hippocampal function, predicting an increased activation associated with memory encoding in the hippocampus and amygdala.”
From Neuroimaging research in posttraumatic stress disorder – Focus on amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (2019) · cites this paper as Stevens et al. (2018)
Stevens et al. (2018) found that hippocampal activation is increased in relation to symptoms of reliving.
“Stevens et al. (2018) investigated a relationship between hippocampal activation and symptoms of reliving, and came to the result that such activation is increased.”
From Neuroimaging research in posttraumatic stress disorder – Focus on amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (2019) · cites this paper as Stevens et al. (2018)
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- Authors
- Stevens, J. S., Reddy, R., Kim, Y. J., van Rooij, S. J. H., Ely, T. D., Hamann, S., Ressler, K. J., & Jovanovic, T.
- Affiliations
- Emory University (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Stevens, Jennifer S.
- Venue
- NeuroImage: Clinical
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018
- Volume
- 17
- Pages
- 650-658
- ISSN
- 2213-1582 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5709292
- OpenAlex
- W2770072520
- Cited by
- 49
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 3.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- NeuroImage Clinical (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Mental Health (F32 MH101976, MH071537, MH098212)
- Emory and Grady Memorial Hospital General Clinical Research Center (UL1TR002378)
- NIH National Centers for Research Resources (M01RR00039)
- NIH (UL1TR000454)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- episodic memory, trauma exposure, hippocampus, amygdala, re-experiencing, negative affect, post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, symptom dimensions, memory encoding, functional coupling, African American women, hippocampal volume
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Depression, Female, Humans, Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Temporal Lobe, Young Adult, Memory, Episodic
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