Enhanced Priming for Trauma-Related Material in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. |
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Authors: | Michael, Tanja Ehlers, Anke Halligan, Sarah L. |
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Abstract: | Intrusive reexperiencing in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been linked to perceptual priming for trauma-related material. A prospective longitudinal study (N = 69) investigated perceptual priming for trauma-related, general threat, and neutral words in assault survivors with and without PTSD, using a new version of the word-stem completion task. Survivors with PTSD showed enhanced priming for trauma-related words. Furthermore, priming for trauma-related words measured soon after the trauma was associated with subsequent PTSD severity at 3, 6, and 9 months. The enhanced priming effect was specific to trauma-related words. Enhanced perceptual priming for traumatic material appears to be one of the cognitive processes operating in PTSD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
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Keywords: | perceptual priming reexperiencing trauma-related material PTSD severity general threat words neutral words assault survivors |
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