An examination of mindfulness and cognitive interference in American veterans of the Global War on Terrorism

<p>Utilizing an internet-based research protocol, PTSD symptoms, mindfulness skills, and cognitive interference were assessed. Participants completed self-report measures of PTSD symptoms and mindfulness skills, and then completed an emotional Stroop task that contained words selected to induce cognitive interference based on their combat-related nature. Consistent with past research, this study hypothesized that participants with combat-related PTSD would have longer response latencies on the task relative to participants with lower scores on a combat-related PTSD measure. This study also hypothesized that veterans in general would exhibit longer response latencies that non-veterans. This study was also hypothesized that mindfulness skills would moderate this prolonged response latency. Specifically, I expected participants with higher scores on a self-report measure of mindfulness to exhibit decreased response latency relative to those participants with similar PTSD scores and lower mindfulness scores. These three hypotheses were not supported in the present study. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are also discussed.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS) in Psychology: General/Experimental

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year

2017

Author dc:creator

• Rowley, Andrew C.

• Psychology

Statement dc:rights

• Access is available to all users

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/424

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dc.ewu.edu:theses-1425