Inhibitory Control under Threat: The Role of Spontaneous Eye Blinks in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Mikael Rubin; Denise A Hien; Dipanjana Das; Robert D Melara

doi:10.3390/brainsci7020016

Inhibitory Control under Threat: The Role of Spontaneous Eye Blinks in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Brain Sci. 2017 Feb 4;7(2):16. doi: 10.3390/brainsci7020016.

Authors

Mikael Rubin^{1

2}, Denise A Hien^{3

4}, Dipanjana Das^{5

6}, Robert D Melara⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, City College, City University of New York, New York, NY 10017, USA. mikael.r13@gmail.com.
² Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78705, USA. mikael.r13@gmail.com.
³ Department of Psychology, City College, City University of New York, New York, NY 10017, USA. dr.denise.hien@gmail.com.
⁴ Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University, South Avenue, Garden City, NY 11530, USA. dr.denise.hien@gmail.com.
⁵ Department of Psychology, City College, City University of New York, New York, NY 10017, USA. ddas4425@gmail.com.
⁶ Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA. ddas4425@gmail.com.
⁷ Department of Psychology, City College, City University of New York, New York, NY 10017, USA. bobmelara@gmail.com.

Abstract

This study is the first to explore spontaneous eye blink rate (sEBR) in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We investigated the connection between the magnitude of flanker interference in PTSD participants and sEBR during performance on a modified version of the Eriksen flanker task. As a peripheral measure of cognitive control and dopaminergic function, sEBR may illuminate the relationship between PTSD and executive function. Findings revealed a positive relationship between sEBR and flanker interference in participants diagnosed with PTSD, to both threat-related and neutral stimuli, whereas this relationship was negative in participants exposed to trauma but without PTSD and in healthy controls. Although our results are suggestive of sEBR as a potential physiological index of emotional management in PTSD, most of the correlations were not significant, indicating that further research with a larger sample is needed.

Keywords: cognitive control; flanker interference; inhibitory control; post-traumatic stress disorder; spontaneous eye blink rate; trauma exposure.