Compelled attention: the effects of viewing trauma-related stimuli on concurrent task performance in posttraumatic stress disorder.
We examined the ability of Vietnam veterans with PTSD to focus attention on a primary digit detection task while concurrently viewing neutral or Vietnam-related picture and word distractors. Controlling for combat exposure, military service, and psychopathology, veterans with PTSD took longer to detect the target when Vietnam-related pictures were distractors. There were no reaction time differences when word stimuli were distractors. The latency effect was specific to trials with trauma-related pictures and did not spread to neutral trials interleaved within a mixed block of trauma and neutral pictures. Individuals with PTSD recalled proportionally more Vietnam-related words than other groups, implying differential attention to Vietnam-related words. Attending to trauma-related pictures interferes with performance of a concurrent task by individuals with PTSD.
Chemtob
C M
CM
Pacific Islands Division, National Center for PTSD, Department of Veterans Affairs, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813, USA.
Roitblat
H L
HL
Hamada
R S
RS
Muraoka
M Y
MY
Carlson
J G
JG
Bauer
G B
GB
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology; D014825:Vocabulary