Verbal and Nonverbal Memory Functioning in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Abstract

Although there is evidence for memory impairment in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), it remains unclear whether memory impairment is confined to verbal material or whether memory for nonverbal material is also affected. We examined verbal and nonverbal memory for free recall and recognition in 40 patients with PTSD and 40 healthy controls. Analyses showed that patients with PTSD displayed attenuated memory performance for both short- and long-term recall, which was not further moderated by type of material. The influence of attention, verbal intelligence, and depression was investigated. Our findings suggest that both verbal and nonverbal memory are compromised in PTSD.

We would like to thank Alice Behrendt, Dr. Alan Campbell, and Dr. Richard Linscott for help with an earlier version of the manuscript and Christoph Muhtz for his help in recruitment of subjects.

Notes

We would like to thank Alice Behrendt, Dr. Alan Campbell, and Dr. Richard Linscott for help with an earlier version of the manuscript and Christoph Muhtz for his help in recruitment of subjects.

^aassessed with a vocabulary test (MWT-B; Lehrl, 1995).

^badjusted for unequal variances.

^csample sizes for PTSD and Controls are 39 and 37, respectively.

*p < .05; **p < .01.

^aSample size n = 39.