title: Effect of posttraumatic stress on study time in a task measuring four component processes underlying text-level reading.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the effect of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on 4 components underlying text-level reading comprehension.
  
  
  METHODS
  A group of 17 veterans with PTSD and 17 matched control participants took part. An experimental task required participants to read and study 3-sentence paragraphs describing semantic features associated with real and unreal objects. Each paragraph was followed by true-false statements that assessed knowledge access, text memory, inference, and integration.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results revealed that the PTSD group took significantly longer than the control group to study the paragraphs. Although there was no group difference in test statement accuracy, the PTSD group also took significantly longer to respond to the test statements.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, the results provide evidence for the control theory of attention but suggest that more direct measures of task-irrelevant processing during text-level reading are needed. More important, the results begin to lay a foundation for developing not only diagnostic but also intervention strategies.
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.forename: Gina G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Griffiths
authors.forename: Mckay
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moore Sohlberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult