Abstract
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.
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Chemtob, C.M., Roitblat, H.L., Hamada, R.S. et al. Compelled Attention: The Effects of Viewing Trauma-Related Stimuli on Concurrent Task Performance in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. J Trauma Stress 12, 309–326 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024728626505
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024728626505