Among individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), verbal learning and memory are areas of weakness compared with other cognitive domains (e.g., visuospatial memory). In this study, previously deployed military veterans completed clinical assessments of word memory and vocabulary (n = 243) and a laboratory task measuring encoding, free recall, repetition priming, and recognition of words (n = 147). Impaired verbal memory was selectively related to reexperiencing symptoms of PTSD but was not associated with other symptom groupings or blast-induced traumatic brain injury. Implicit priming of response times following word repetition was also unrelated to clinical symptoms. Instead, slowed response times during encoding explained associations between reexperiencing and memory performance. These findings are consistent with alterations in attentional control explaining PTSD-related verbal-memory deficits. Such findings have implications for understanding trauma-focused psychotherapy and recovery, which may depend on efficient attentional processing of words to alter posttraumatic reexperiencing symptoms.

在患有创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）的个体中，与其他认知领域（例如视觉空间记忆）相比，言语学习和记忆是薄弱领域。在这项研究中，先前部署的退伍军人完成了单词记忆和词汇的临床评估（n = 243）以及测量编码、自由回忆、重复启动和单词识别的实验室任务（n = 147）。言语记忆受损与再次经历创伤后应激障碍症状有选择性相关，但与其他症状组或爆炸引起的创伤性脑损伤无关。单词重复后的隐性反应时间启动也与临床症状无关。相反，编码过程中响应时间的减慢解释了重新体验和记忆性能之间的关联。这些发现与注意力控制的改变一致，解释了创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）相关的言语记忆缺陷。这些发现对于理解以创伤为中心的心理治疗和康复具有重要意义，这可能依赖于有效的注意力处理言语来改变创伤后重新经历的症状。