An Examination of Attentional Bias for Threat in a Motor Vehicle Accident Survivors with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorCarleton, R. Nicholas
dc.contributor.advisorAsmundson, Gordon J. G.
dc.contributor.authorDuranceau, Sophie
dc.contributor.committeememberOriet, Christopher
dc.contributor.externalexaminerRiemann, Bradley C.
dc.date.accessioned2015-07-06T17:57:28Z
dc.date.available2015-07-06T17:57:28Z
dc.date.issued2014-07
dc.descriptionA Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology, University of Regina. viii, 112 p.en_US
dc.description.abstractTheoretical models of anxiety suggest that cognitive vulnerabilities are involved in the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Elwood, Hahn, Olatunji, & Williams, 2009). Attentional bias for threat has been identified as a cognitive vulnerability which may facilitate the development and maintenance of PTSD (Bomyea, Risbrough, & Lang, 2012). Several cognitive tasks have previously been used to assess attentional bias for threat in anxiety pathologies (i.e., emotional Stroop task, visual search task, dot probe task). The proposed investigation was designed to assess the directionality (i.e., facilitated attention, difficulty in disengagement, avoidance) and time-course of attentional bias for threat in motor vehicle accident (MVA) survivors using a contemporary dot probe task. Participants included MVA survivors with high PTSD symptoms (n = 18), MVA survivors with low PTSD symptoms (n = 46), and a control group with no history of MVA or PTSD (n = 64) recruited across North America. Results suggest that MVA survivors reporting high PTSD symptoms display a different attentional pattern than individuals without such symptoms during the early stages of cognitive processing. Specifically, MVA survivors with high PTSD symptoms 1) easily disengage their attention from MVA-related threat and, contrary to individuals without PTSD symptoms, 2) fail to engage with generally threatening stimuli. A lack of engagement with threatening stimuli could interfere with the processing and re-appraisal of threat, in turn contributing to the exacerbation of PTSD symptoms. Attention bias modification programs could be useful for the treatment of PTSD. Comprehensive results, methodological considerations, implications, and future research are discussed.en_US
dc.description.authorstatusStudenten
dc.description.peerreviewyesen
dc.identifier.tcnumberTC-SRU-5755
dc.identifier.thesisurlhttp://ourspace.uregina.ca/bitstream/handle/10294/5755/Duranceau_Sophie_200323407_MA_ClinPsyc_Fall2014.pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10294/5755
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherFaculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Reginaen_US
dc.titleAn Examination of Attentional Bias for Threat in a Motor Vehicle Accident Survivors with Posttraumatic Stress Disorderen_US
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.departmentDepartment of Psychologyen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineClinical Psychologyen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Reginaen
thesis.degree.levelMaster'sen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Arts (MA)en_US
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Duranceau_Sophie_200323407_MA_ClinPsyc_Fall2014.pdf
Size:
1.14 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
2.22 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Master's Theses