title: Attentional bias for trauma-related words: exaggerated emotional Stroop effect in Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans with PTSD.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) involves debilitating symptoms that can disrupt cognitive functioning. The emotional Stroop has been commonly used to examine the impact of PTSD on attentional control, but no published study has yet used it with Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans, and only one previous study has compared groups on habituation to trauma-related words.
  
  
  METHODS
  We administered the emotional Stroop, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the PTSD Checklist (PCL) to 30 veterans with PTSD, 30 military controls, and 30 civilian controls. Stroop word types included Combat, Matched-neutral, Neutral, Positive and Negative.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to controls, veterans with PTSD were disproportionately slower in responding to Combat words. They were also slower and less accurate overall, did not show interference on Negative or Positive words relative to Neutral, and showed a trend for delayed but successful habituation to Combat words. Higher PCL and BDI scores also correlated with larger interference effects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Because of its specificity in detecting attentional biases to trauma-related words, the emotional Stroop task may serve as a useful pre- and post task with intervention studies of PTSD patients.
authors.affiliation: Research Service, Veterans Affairs Northern California Health Care System, Martinez, CA, USA. v.ashley.07@gmail.com
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ashley
authors.forename: Nikki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Honzel
authors.forename: Jary
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Justus
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Swick
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D055826:Afghan Campaign 2001-; D001288:Attention; D057189:Checklist; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D054542:Iraq War, 2003-2011; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D057190:Stroop Test; D014481:United States; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology