Table 3.
Task-based functional neuroimaging. PTSD: Post-traumatic stress disorder, TE: Trauma-exposed, HC: Healthy controls, M/F: Male/Female, SD: standard deviation, fMRI: functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, ND: Not described, CAPS: Clinician administered PTSD scale, CTQ: Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, BNST: Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis.
| Study | Method | Task | PTSD (M/F) |
TE (M/F) | HC (M/F) |
Age M(SD) |
Trauma type | Trauma wind Months(SD) | Subs. Use Dis. | Psych. Com. | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strigo et al. (2010) | fMRI | Event-related experimental pain paradigm (brief temperature stimul.) | 31(0/31) | – | 20(0/20) | 35.9(8.5)/35.2(12.7) | Intimate partner violence | 30 days < event<5 years | Not within 30 days | Yes | PTSD > HC left cerebellum and PTSD < HC right cerebellum during temperature stimuli. |
| Diener et al. (2012) | fMRI | Painful mechanical stimulation before and after cognitive stressful task | 14(5/9) | 14(6/8) | – | 41(10.39) | 95.5(134.76)/ 90.57(94.8) |
ND | No | PTSD > TE pain threshold post-stress. Negative correl. with cerebellar activity | |
| Vidotto et al. (2014) | fMRI | Disgusting vs neutral pictures | 10(2/8) | – | 25(11/14) | 35.2(14.1)/27.5(9.3) | Earthquake | ND | ND | ND | PTSD > HC in the cerebellum during neutral images. |
| Ke et al.(2015) | fMRI | Trauma-related vs neutral pictures | 12(12/0) | 14(14/0) | – | 37.7(3.8) | Coal mining accident |
24(ND) | No | No | PTSD > TE in vermis. Pos. correl. with CAPS total scores. |
| Ke et al.(2015) | fMRI | Trauma-related vs neutral pictures | 13(13/0) Baseline and follow-up |
– | – | 36.7(4.5) | Coal mining accident |
2 and 24 months after |
No | No | Neg. correlation between cerebellum and reduction of PTSD symptoms |
| Rabellino et al. (2016) | fMRI | Subliminal and supraliminal threat-related vs neutral stimuli | 26(11/15) | – | 20(10/10) | 38.8(12.2)/32.5(11.6) | Childhood maltreat. | ND | Not in the past 6 months | Several, mainly depression | PTSD > HC in the right cerebellar lobule VI in the subliminal threat condition. Neg. Correl. avoidance symptoms-left lobule IV-V |
| Elman et al.(2018) | fMRI | Pleasant vs aversive vs neutral images + pain inducing heat | 12(5/7) | – | 12(6/6) | 38.9(11.9)/39.6(10.2) | ND | ND | Not recent | Only depression and anxiety | PTSD < HC in cerebellar Crus II and lobule VII and VII in rewarding vs neutral condition. PTSD > HC Crus I, Crus II, lobules IV,V, VI, VIII, and IX during pain inducing heat |
| Hall et al. (2018) | fMRI | Involuntary memory task | 21(6/15) | 21(7/14) | – | 21.48(3.34)/22.1(4.75) | Several | ND | ND | ND | Timing differences between the two groups in the cerebellum (among other regions) |
| Naegeli et al. (2018) | fMRI | 15 white noise bursts | 28(4/24) | – | 26(8/18) | 38.5(13.35)/40.35 (11.22) |
Several | 187(168) | No | Yes, mainly depression | PTSD > HC in cerebellar lobule VI during sound bursts |
| Quidé et al. (2018) | fMRI | n-back working memory, emotional go/no-go/mental imagery | 27(0/27) | – | 20(0/20) | 27.22(8.8)/ 28.3(10.07) |
Sexual assault | Within 4 weeks | No | Depression and anxiety | Neg. Correlation bilateral lobule VI,VIII,IX, Crus I and vermis VIII-IX for the happy vs neutral no-go and CAPS scores. Pos. correl. between left lobules VIII-IX, Crus I-II and right VII, vermis VIII-IX, Crus I and CAPS scores in positive vs neutral cond. Mental imagery task |
| Douglas et al. (2019) | fMRI | Trauma-related vs neutral scripts with or without hydrocortisone | 13(6/5) | 11(6/5) | – | 56(10.3)/53.9(9.9) | Earthquake | 46(7.9)/47.1 (10.3) |
No | No severe | No difference between PTSD vs HC. ↓in the left cerebellum in the trauma condition after hydrocortisone |
| Metz et al. (2019) | fMRI | Autobiographical memory task(AMT) with or without hydrocortisone |
19(0/19) | – | 37(0/37) | 31.68(9.04)/ 28.76(7.23) |
Childhood maltreat. | ND | Yes | Yes | No difference between groups in the task. Higher CTQ scores associated with ↑activity in the cerebellum in AMT in the hydrocortisone + condition |
| Terpou et al. (2019) | fMRI | Subliminal and supraliminal threat-related vs neutral stimuli | 26(11/15) | – | 20(10/10) | 38.8(12.2)/32.5(11.6) | Childhood maltreat. | ND | Not in the past 6 months | Several, mainly depression | HC > PTSD in right cerebellar lobule V in the subliminal threat condition. Neg. Correl. lobule V and depersonalization symptoms |
| Awasthi et al. (2020) | fMRI | Positive vs negative vs neutral words | 29(4/25) | – | 23(12/11) | 34.6(9.2)/28.7(7.6) | Sexual assault | 295 (range 12–504) | No | No | PTSD > HC FC between the BNST and cerebellar regions |
| Belleau et al. (2020) | fMRI | Script-driven trauma recall task | – | 54(19/ 35) |
– | 33.22(11.55) | Several | 2 weeks and 6 months post-trauma | Yes | Several | No relationship between FC of the cerebellum during task and later development of PTSD |