The Lasting Effects of Early Adversity and Updating Ability on the Tendency to Develop PTSD Symptoms Following Exposure to Trauma in Adulthood

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) serve as a risk factor for developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in those who experience additional adult trauma. However, while some individuals with ACEs develop severe PTSD symptoms following exposure to trauma, others do not. We propose that updating prior knowledge the face of new inconsistent information may account these individual differences. This notion is based on work showing reduced ability update negative-to-positive outcome associations, greater trauma correlated elevated symptoms. On other hand, flexible not such Objective. Here, we tested whether moderates relationship between and Firefighters (N = 123, Mage 28.02, SDage 4.69) were assessed adversity completed performance-based learning paradigm evaluate updating. predicted found strong associations negative–but positive–outcomes. The results first step toward improving mental health outcomes protecting them from aversive effect