Citation

Islam-Zwart KA, Heath NM, Vik PW. J. Trauma. Stress 2005; 18(3): 263-266.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, Washington 99004, USA. kislamzwart@mail.ewu.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jts.20025

PMID

16281221

Abstract

This study examined the effect of sexual assault history on facial recognition performance. Gender of facial stimuli and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms also were expected to influence performance. Fifty-six female inmates completed an interview and the Wechsler Memory Scale-Third Edition Faces I and Faces II subtests (Wechsler, 1997). Women with a sexual assault exhibited better immediate and delayed facial recognition skills than those with no assault history. There were no differences in performance based on the gender of faces or PTSD diagnosis. Immediate facial recognition was correlated with report of PTSD symptoms. Findings provide greater insight into women's reactions to, and the uniqueness of, the trauma of sexual victimization.

Language: en