Attention, arousal, and memory in posttraumatic stress disorder.
Vietnam combat veterans with current posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with other Axis-I disorders, or with no Axis-I disorders completed a series of tasks designed to elucidate the psychophysiological parameters of information-processing in PTSD. These tasks included a modified Stroop procedure (MSP), a standard Stroop procedure, a recognition memory task, and a threat rating task. Physiological responses were recorded throughout the study. Our data supported several predictions derived from information-processing models of PTSD. PTSD subjects exhibited greater MSP interference to high threat words than both comparison groups, and a liberal response bias toward recognizing military-related words. PTSD symptoms and threat reactions contributed to MSP interference effects for high-threat words after controlling for medications, depression, and baseline physiological activity.
Litz
B T
BT
National Center for PTSD, Boston Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Massachusetts 02130, USA.
Weathers
F W
FW
Monaco
V
V
Herman
D S
DS
Wulfsohn
M
M
Marx
B
B
Keane
T M
TM
D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D003118:Color Perception; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D015897:Comorbidity; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010467:Perceptual Defense; D011603:Psychophysiology; D011930:Reaction Time; D012660:Semantics; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*; D014744:Vietnam