Ayers Edwin D, White Jeffrey, Powell D A
Shirley L. Buchanan Neuroscience Laboratory, Dorn V.A. Medical Center, Columbia, SC 29209, USA.
Integr Physiol Behav Sci. 2003 Jul-Sep;38(3):230-47. doi: 10.1007/BF02688856.
Several recent studies have investigated relationships between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and learning and memory problems. These reports have found in general that not only does PTSD affect trauma-related memories, but when patients with PTSD are compared with similar trauma patients without PTSD, general memory impairments have been found. The present paper reports a study in which associative learning, using Pavlovian eyeblink conditioning, was investigated in combat veterans with and without chronic PTSD, using interstimulus intervals of 500 and 1000 msec in two separate experiments. Although several recent reports suggest that larger-magnitude autonomic conditioned responses occur in patients with PTSD during Pavlovian conditioning, the present study found evidence of impaired Pavlovian eyeblink conditioning in combat veterans with and without PTSD, compared to non-combat veterans. Although these data suggest that combat leads to an impaired associative learning process regardless of whether PTSD is apparent, a group of community-dwelling combat veterans not under medical treatment showed normal conditioning, suggesting that variables other than prior combat must also be involved.
最近的几项研究调查了创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）与学习和记忆问题之间的关系。这些报告总体上发现，PTSD不仅会影响与创伤相关的记忆，而且当将患有PTSD的患者与没有PTSD的类似创伤患者进行比较时，还发现了一般的记忆障碍。本文报告了一项研究，在两个独立的实验中，使用500毫秒和1000毫秒的刺激间隔，对患有和未患有慢性PTSD的退伍军人进行了基于巴甫洛夫眨眼条件反射的联想学习研究。尽管最近的几份报告表明，在巴甫洛夫条件反射过程中，PTSD患者会出现幅度更大的自主条件反应，但本研究发现，与非退伍军人相比，患有和未患有PTSD的退伍军人的巴甫洛夫眨眼条件反射均受损。尽管这些数据表明，无论PTSD是否明显，战斗都会导致联想学习过程受损，但一组未接受治疗的社区居住退伍军人表现出正常的条件反射，这表明除了先前的战斗经历外，其他变量也一定起了作用。
