Neural correlates of tinnitus annoyance and its reduction after cognitive-behavioural training: results from an emotional stroop task

Golm, Dennis, Schmidt-Samoa, Carsten, Dechent, Peter and Kroener-Herwig, Birgit (2012) Neural correlates of tinnitus annoyance and its reduction after cognitive-behavioural training: results from an emotional stroop task. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 19 (Suppl 1), S97-S97, [0240]. (doi:10.1007/s12529-012-9247-0).

Abstract

Tinnitus describes the perception of sound in the absence of external noise. About 5% of the population is affected by chronic tinnitus. About 20% of the tinnitus afflicted individuals experience severe distress due to the phantom noise. Negative cognitive emotional evaluation of tinnitus and its assumed consequences are commonly believed to be a major factor determining tinnitus-related distress. Models of tinnitus distress and recently conducted research propose a fronto-parietal-cingulate network to be more active in highly distressed tinnitus patients. The aim of the study was to identify brain regions, which are more active in highly distressed tinnitus patients during the processing of tinnitus-related stimuli in comparison to low distressed tinnitus patients and healthy controls. We examined three groups of age and sex matched participants; highly distressed tinnitus patients (n = 16; mean age: 53.38; SD = 12.33), low distressed tinnitus patients (n = 16; mean age: 52.25; SD = 11.73) and healthy controls (n = 16; mean age: 52.75; SD = 9.40) by the means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The participants underwent fMRI while performing an emotional Stroop task, which consisted of colored tinnitus-related words and neutral words. The participants had to name the color of each presented word via button press on a four-button-response pad. A subgroup of the highly distressed tinnitus patients received a cognitive-behavioral training, which aimed to reduce tinnitus-related distress. Responders to the training and age and sex matched low distressed tinnitus patients underwent the emotional Stroop task for a second time. The final results will be presented.

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Contributors

Author: Dennis Golm

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