Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240, USA.
Depress Anxiety. 2013 May;30(5):497-502. doi: 10.1002/da.22115.
Although several studies have documented an attentional bias toward threat in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the nature of this bias has not been clearly delineated. The present study utilized eye tracking technology to delineate the time course and components of attentional bias for threat cues in combat-related PTSD.
Veterans with PTSD (n = 21), combat-exposed veterans without PTSD (n = 16), and nonveteran controls (n = 21) viewed emotional expressions (fearful, disgusted, happy) paired with neutral expressions for 3 s presentations.
Veterans with PTSD maintained attention longer on the fearful and disgusted expressions relative to the happy expression. This negativity bias was sustained over the course of the 3 s trials, and robustly distinguished veterans with PTSD from both veterans without PTSD and nonveteran controls.
Dwelling on potential threat cues may reflect current PTSD symptoms, or it could reflect a cognitive vulnerability factor for PTSD.
尽管有几项研究记录了创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）患者对威胁的注意力偏向，但这种偏向的性质尚未明确界定。本研究利用眼动追踪技术来描绘与战斗相关的 PTSD 中对威胁线索的注意力偏向的时间进程和成分。
PTSD 退伍军人（n=21）、有战斗经历但无 PTSD 的退伍军人（n=16）和非退伍军人对照组（n=21）观看了 3 秒钟呈现的恐惧、厌恶和快乐表情与中性表情的配对。
PTSD 退伍军人在观看恐惧和厌恶表情时，相对于快乐表情，他们的注意力持续时间更长。这种负面偏向在 3 秒的试验过程中持续存在，并且能够将 PTSD 退伍军人与没有 PTSD 的退伍军人和非退伍军人对照组明显区分开来。
对潜在威胁线索的关注可能反映了当前的 PTSD 症状，或者反映了 PTSD 的认知易感性因素。
