Dwelling on the positive: Eye-tracking and electroencephalogram indicators of posttraumatic growth

Since existing research demonstrates people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) direct more attention toward negative and threatening visual stimuli, this study hypothesized people with posttraumatic growth (PTG) may direct increased attention toward positive visual stimuli.

To examine this hypothesis, eye-tracking data and electroencephalogram brain activity recorded during the N170 time window were collected for 72 healthy individuals with varying trauma exposures as they passively viewed positively and negatively valenced images in a two-phase study design. PTG and PTSD symptoms in this nonclinical sample were measured using the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996) and the Impacts of Events Scale-Revised (Weiss & Marmar, 1997). N170 was examined as existing research identifies N170 as an early electrophysiological inflection sensitive to context.

Analysis revealed that as overall PTG and Posttraumatic Growth Inventory subfactor "appreciation of life" increased, participant pupil dilations also increased, and participants were more likely to gaze first and dwell for longer on positively valenced images. There was no association between N170 and PTG. However, increased PTSD symptoms were associated with a larger N170 responsivity to negatively valenced images.

Eye-tracking findings offer novel physiological evidence of the salience of positive imagery for people with greater PTG. Larger N170 responses to negative images may offer a physiological marker of the pronounced threat recognition present in people with increased PTSD symptom severity. The propensity for individuals with more PTG to focus on positive, life-affirming images may underpin the more constructive worldviews and contemplative deliberate rumination, meaning-making, and constructive coping efforts associated with PTG development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).