Examining attentional avoidance in post-traumatic stress disorder: an exploratory 'Face in the Crowd' paradigm using eye-tracking.

ABSTRACT: Background: Maladaptive patterns of attention to emotional stimuli are a clinical feature of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Using eye-tracking-based methodology, research points out the presence of sustained attention to threatening stimuli in individuals with PTSD. However, most eye-tracking studies in this field used free-viewing tasks on negative stimuli.Methods: PTSD patients (n = 38), trauma-exposed healthy controls (TEHC; n = 30), and non-trauma-exposed healthy controls (HC; n = 33) performed a Face in the Crowd (FiC) task. The FiC task was chosen to explore specific responses to emotional stimuli within a competitive visual environment, thus providing insights into visual search patterns. Both reaction time and gaze patterns (dwell time, sca

SUBMITTER: Blekic W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11823380 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature