Post-traumatic stress disorder is associated with altered modulation of prefrontal alpha band oscillations during working memory.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between the severity of PTSD symptoms, modulation of alpha band oscillations, and behavioral performance in a working memory task.

Methods: Magnetoencephalography data were recorded in 35 participants with combat exposure and various degrees of PTSD symptom severity while they performed a modified Sternberg working memory task: briefly presented sets of two or six letters had to be held in memory and participants indicated whether subsequent probe letters were present or absent from these sets.

Results: PTSD scores were positively correlated with the false positive rate in the high memory load condition. Higher rates of false recognition were associated with negative probes that were seen in recent previous trials (negative probe recency effect) or were physically similar with the list letters. The relative alpha band power in the left middle frontal gyrus was negatively correlated with both PTSD scores and false positive rates.

Conclusions: Reduced task specific modulation of alpha band oscillations in left middle frontal cortex may reflect alterations in the functions of pattern separation and suppression of memory traces for irrelevant or no longer relevant information in PTSD.

Significance: The lower amplitude of prefrontal alpha band oscillations may represent an important physiological basis for core PTSD symptoms and can provide a target for interventions to augment response to treatment.