Exploring attentional bias in posttraumatic stress disorder: insights from police officers with service dogs

Introduction PTSD is characterized by hypervigilance and attentional bias to threat, which can severely interfere with daily functioning. Stress exacerbates this bias by increasing amygdala activity and depleting prefrontal resources, reducing attentional control. The presence of a dog may help regulate attention by reducing stress. Methods This study investigates attentional bias to emotional faces in police officers with PTSD and examines whether the presence of their service or companion dog diminishes this bias by mitigating stress-related cognitive depletion, using a within subject design. Police officers with ( n = 24) and without PTSD ( n = 24) completed the dot-probe task with angry and happy faces in the presence and absence of their dog. Reaction times and event-related potentials (ERP) were analyzed to assess attentional bias. Results Officers with PTSD showed a greater trial level bias score but no consistent bias direction. The P3 amplitude indicated no differentiation between happy and angry faces in the PTSD group, unlike the control group. The VPP amplitude was higher in the PTSD group when the dog was absent, suggesting increased early-stage attention to faces without the dog. Officers with PTSD showed also slower reaction times when their dog was absent. Discussion The findings suggest that PTSD is associated with a reduced ability to selectively allocate attention based on emotional content and increased reaction time variability rather than a consistent directional bias toward or away from emotional stimuli. The presence of a dog appeared to regulate early-stage attentional processing and reaction speed.