Track: Information Technology/Information Systems

Abstract

Individuals suffering from PTSD show an attentional bias to threat information, the same bias that influences the maintenance and aggravation of PTSD. The Eye-tracking device is used to provide more detailed information about attentional processes in this population. Studies in this area use visual stimuli to explore how these stimuli are processed, examining the absolute percentage data of time the gaze was focused on a singular region of the stimulus and analyzing all to find the regions of the stimulus on which the individual fixated. This paper reports the qualitative synthesis conducted on eye-tracking studies in PTSD populations. This review followed the PRISMA criteria; the studies included publications between 2016 and 2021 in PubMed, Scopus, and Hinari databases, resulting in the review of 18 articles that fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results showed a significant relationship between PTSD symptoms and bias toward threatening or negative stimuli. In addition, more significant attentional bias towards threatening or negative stimuli was found when compared to those with comparatively reasonable attentional control who showed a model of excessive control, consistent with circumventing the threat and reducing the arousal.