An experimental investigation of hypervigilance for threat in children and adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The present study examined biases in visual attention for emotional material in children and adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and healthy controls. METHODS: The participants carried out an attentional deployment task in which probe detection latency data were used to determine the distribution of visual attention for threat-related and depression-related material. RESULTS: The results showed that children and adolescents with PTSD, relative to controls, selectively allocated processing resources towards socially threatening stimuli and away from depression-related stimuli. This attentional avoidance of depression-related information in the PTSD participants declined with age. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study are interpreted as a consolidation and extension of previous research on attentional bias and emotional disorder in younger participants.