Deficits in working memory (WM) have a role in maintaining posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, including intrusions, which are a hallmark of PTSD symptomatology. As intrusions are distressing and uncontrollable, it is important to investigate whether PTSD is associated with altered control of proactive interference in WM. Moreover, it is important to consider both verbal and visual WM, as previous research has demonstrated a visual versus verbal dissociation in PTSD. Although previous studies have explored proactive interference in visual and verbal stimuli using a recent probe task, the stimuli used thus far have been non–trauma-related. Therefore, we aimed to investigate proactive interference in PTSD using trauma-related verbal and visual stimuli. Road traffic accident (RTA) survivors with (n = 60) and without PTSD (n = 30) completed a recent probe task to assess proactive interference of visual and verbal trauma-related material. Participants with PTSD displayed significantly more proactive interference than trauma-exposed controls for visual, η_p² = .40, and verbal material, η_p² = .10, indicating that proactive interference is significantly impaired in PTSD. This demonstrates that further research is warranted and highlights the possibility of considering proactive interference of trauma-related stimuli in therapeutic approaches.

中文翻译：

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创伤后应激障碍的主动干预

工作记忆 (WM) 缺陷在维持创伤后应激障碍 (PTSD) 症状方面发挥作用，包括侵入，这是 PTSD 症状学的标志。由于入侵令人痛苦且无法控制，因此调查 PTSD 是否与 WM 中主动干扰控制的改变有关，这一点很重要。此外，重要的是要同时考虑语言和视觉 WM，因为之前的研究已经证明了 PTSD 中的视觉与语言分离。尽管之前的研究使用最近的探测任务探索了视觉和语言刺激的主动干扰，但迄今为止使用的刺激与创伤无关。因此，我们旨在使用与创伤相关的语言和视觉刺激来调查对 PTSD 的主动干预。道路交通事故 (RTA) 幸存者 ( n= 60) 而没有 PTSD ( n = 30) 完成了最近的探测任务，以评估视觉和语言创伤相关材料的主动干扰。PTSD 参与者表现出比创伤暴露控制的视觉、η _p ² = .40 和语言材料 η _p ² = .10显着更多的主动干预，表明主动干预在 PTSD 中显着受损。这表明有必要进行进一步的研究，并强调在治疗方法中考虑积极干预与创伤相关的刺激的可能性。