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Comprehensive Guide to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder pp 1–13Cite as

Eye Tracking and PTSD

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Abstract

Eye tracking research in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is only just emerging, with only a handful of studies completed. The majority of studies have focused on identifying attentional biases toward threat which is proposed as one of the maintaining factors underlying anxiety. At this preliminary stage, current findings reveal evidence for an early attentional bias toward trauma-relevant stimuli in PTSD, with less consistent evidence of subsequent avoidance. However, longitudinal studies are emerging which suggest that attentional avoidance of threat may be a risk factor for developing higher PTSD symptoms in military settings. Eye tracking technology provides significant advances over traditional attentional bias paradigms, as it enables the continuous assessment of visual attention, allowing for both valuable convergent spatial and temporal information. This enables the assessment of both initial attention and avoidance of threatening stimuli. In addition, eye tracking technology may be usefully applied in alternative paradigms assessing social cognition (such as visual scanning of facial expressions) to identify further important aspects of emotional and social processing in PTSD.

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Abbreviations

Ms:

Milliseconds

MVA:

Motor vehicle accidents

PTSD:

Posttraumatic stress disorder

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Psychology, School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, Churchill Avenue, Sandy Bay, 7005, Hobart, TAS, Australia

    Kim Felmingham

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  1. Kim Felmingham
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Correspondence to Kim Felmingham .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Buckinghamshire New University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, United Kingdom

    Colin R. Martin

  2. Kings College, London, United Kingdom

    Victor R. Preedy

  3. University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom

    Vinood B. Patel

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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Felmingham, K. (2015). Eye Tracking and PTSD. In: Martin, C., Preedy, V., Patel, V. (eds) Comprehensive Guide to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08613-2_111-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08613-2_111-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-08613-2

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