The automatic processes of earthquake-related stimulus: Comparison at different time points after the Wenchuan earthquake

Trauma experience not only could predict longterm physical and mental health problems, but also could have impact on the cognitive processes. Modified Stroop task and subliminal masked priming task were used to examine the automatic cognitive processing of earthquake-related stimulus (disaster-related, rescue-related, and earthquake-unrelated words) of healthy undergraduates at one month and two years since the Wenchuan earthquake happened, who came from the worst-hit areas of the Wenchuan earthquake. The results showed that the earthquake interference effects were showed in modified Stroop task and reversed priming effects were found in subliminal masked priming task at one month after the Wenchuan earthquake. However, two years later, earthquake interference effects and reversed priming effects were not found in the same experiments. The results showed the automatic cognitive processing of healthy subjects experienced trauma was affected by the earthquake episodic memory, and these interference effects were weakened with the passage of time.