Abstract
Conscious and preconscious processing of threatening information in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was studied using a masked modified Stroop paradigm. Twenty subjects who had been in motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) and met criteria for PTSD were compared with 20 MVA non-PTSD and 20 non-MVA subjects. PTSD subjects, but not MVA or non-MVA subjects, demonstrated greater interference on threat words in both the masked and unmasked conditions. The results suggest that preferential processing of threat-related information in PTSD occurs at a preconscious stage of processing.
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This project was supported by a grant from the Motor Accident Authority of NSW (Clinical Sciences Project No. 9743).
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Harvey, A.G., Bryant, R.A. & Rapee, R.M. Preconscious processing of threat in posttraumatic stress disorder. Cogn Ther Res 20, 613–623 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02227964
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02227964