UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Investigating patterns of neural response associated with childhood abuse v. childhood neglect

Puetz, VB; Viding, E; Gerin, MI; Pingault, J-B; Sethi, A; Knodt, AR; Radtke, SR; ... McCrory, E; + view all (2019) Investigating patterns of neural response associated with childhood abuse v. childhood neglect. Psychological Medicine 10.1017/S003329171900134X. (In press). Green open access

[thumbnail of McCrory GR_Puetz_Psych_Med_080319.pdf]
Preview
Text
McCrory GR_Puetz_Psych_Med_080319.pdf - Accepted Version

Download (442kB) | Preview

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Childhood maltreatment is robustly associated with increased risk of poor mental health outcome and changes in brain function. The authors investigated whether childhood experience of abuse (e.g. physical, emotional and sexual abuse) and neglect (physical and emotional deprivation) was differentially associated with neural reactivity to threat. METHODS: Participants were drawn from an existing study and allocated to one of four groups based on self-report of childhood maltreatment experience: individuals with childhood abuse experiences (n = 70); individuals with childhood neglect experiences (n = 87); individuals with combined experience of childhood abuse and neglect (n = 50); and non-maltreated individuals (n = 207) propensity score matched (PSM) on gender, age, IQ, psychopathology and SES. Neural reactivity to facial cues signalling threat was compared across groups, allowing the differential effects associated with particular forms of maltreatment experience to be isolated. RESULTS: Brain imaging analyses indicated that while childhood abuse was associated with heightened localised threat reactivity in ventral amygdala, experiences of neglect were associated with heightened reactivity in a distributed cortical fronto-parietal network supporting complex social and cognitive processing as well as in the dorsal amygdala. Unexpectedly, combined experiences of abuse and neglect were associated with hypo-activation in several higher-order cortical regions as well as the amygdala. CONCLUSIONS: Different forms of childhood maltreatment exert differential effects in neural threat reactivity: while the effects of abuse are more focal, the effects of neglect and combined experiences of abuse are more distributed. These findings are relevant for understanding the range of psychiatric outcomes following childhood maltreatment and have implications for intervention.

Type: Article
Title: Investigating patterns of neural response associated with childhood abuse v. childhood neglect
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1017/S003329171900134X
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329171900134X
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Abuse, amygdala, fMRI, face processing, maltreatment, neglect
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10076490
Downloads since deposit
938Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item