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Selective processing or avoidance of threat-related stimuli is thought to intensify vulnerability to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and maintained attention to sad stimuli has been associated with vulnerability to depression. These investigators examined whether biased processing of emotional stimuli in soldiers before deployment predicts vulnerability to subsequent PTSD and depression. At approximately 3 months before combat-zone deployment, soldiers viewed matrices showing four faces: fearful, sad, happy, and neutral. Eye-tracking methods were used to time how long soldiers viewed each quadrant.
During deployment (mean, 384 days), 139 soldiers rated their PTSD and depression symptoms and reported war-zone stressors. War-zone stress…