Neurobiological Brain Structure and Function

Question 1

What are structural changes?

Answer 1

Changes in how the brain is structured, such as the volume/size of different brain regions or the number of connections between regions

• Most about size

Question 2

What are functional changes?

Answer 2

Changes in how the brain functions to complete tasks; we can look at patterns of activation and measures of efficiency

• Is it doing its job in the right and best way

Question 3

What is the amygdala for?

Answer 3

Emotion processing and anxiety

• relate to the capacities of a child to deal with their emotions such as anxiety and depression

Question 4

What is the hippocampus for?

Answer 4

Learning and memory

Question 5

What is the prefrontal cortex for?

Answer 5

Executive Functions and ADHD

Question 6

What are three facts about the amygdala?

Answer 6

• Located deep in the temporal lobe
• part of the limbic system
• rapid development within the first few years of life, especially sensitive if children are exposed to stress

Question 7

What is the critical role of the amygdala?

Answer 7

Processing emotional information
- perceiving emotion in faces
- evaluating threatening information
- fear conditioning

Question 8

What can maltreatment cause in regards to the amygdala?

Answer 8

• deficits in emotion processing
• higher internalizing problems
• perceptual biases for threatening information

Question 9

How does maltreatment affect amygdala structure?

Answer 9

• Not much evidence for abuse and neglect with biological parents causing changes to amygdala volume,
  -However, there is evidence that institutional care causes significant changes to the amygdala (extreme deprivation)

Question 10

What is found in children from orphanages after 15 months old in regards to their amygdala?

Answer 10

Larger Amygdala Volume
- Highest for late adopted children
- Children adopted earlier seem to be “protected” from this damage

Question 11

Do children in orphanages recover from early adversity in middle childhood (amygdala)?

Answer 11

Effects were still evident in middle childhood suggesting that there may be a failure to recover

Question 12

What is the link between institutional care and the amygdala?

Answer 12

The longer you spend in an institution the larger the amygdala

Question 13

How does maltreatment affect amygdala function?

Answer 13

-Previously institutionalized children show heightened amygdala activity to fearful compared to neutral faces
-Similar to adult-like pattern of responses
-May reflect precocial development
-Greater amygdala activation to fearful faces is associated with poorer social competence and less eye contact

Question 14

How do abused children process emotional faces?

Answer 14

Enhanced attention to negative faces

Question 15

What is the hippocampus sensitive to?

Answer 15

child stress due to prolonged development
High density of glucocorticoid receptors

Question 16

What does the hippocampus have a critical role in?

Answer 16

-Memory and learning
-Emotion processing (along with amygdala)
-Modulating HPA axis response to stress

Question 17

What do maltreated children show in regards to their hippocampus

Answer 17

Deficits in short-term and long-term memory functioning

Question 18

How does maltreatment affect the hippocampus structure?

Answer 18

• In general, not much evidence for hippocampal volume differences in children who experience maltreatment or institutional care vs. typical children

-Exception: Children with maltreatment-related PTSD show larger hippocampal volume, with positive associations to the level of psychopathology

• Studies consistently find decreased volume of the hippocampus in adults who experienced childhood maltreatment vs. those who did not

Question 19

How does maltreatment affect the hippocampus function

Answer 19

Reduced activation in memory/learning tasks

Question 20

What is the prefrontal cortex sensitive to?

Answer 20

early experience

Question 21

What is the critical role of the prefrontal cortex?

Answer 21

Planning, memory, inhibitory control, controlling attention

Question 22

What do maltreated children show in regards to their prefrontal cortex?

Answer 22

Higher rates of ADHD
Poorer executive functioning

Question 23

How does maltreatment affect the structure of the prefrontal cortex?

Answer 23

Some evidence of smaller volumes in sub-regions of the prefrontal cortex in childhood and adulthood
- Evidence is mixed as some studies show no difference in volume, or a larger volume

Question 24

How does maltreatment affect the function of the prefrontal cortex?

Answer 24

Maltreated children show patterns of neural activation during executive function tasks that look similar to children with ADHD

Question 25

Does institutional care reduce alpha power?

Answer 25

• There is lower alpha power/higher theta power seen in institutionalized children

Question 26

What are the implications of brain changes for well-being?

Answer 26

Ability to do well in school/job
-Attention, memory, cognitive ability, executive functioning skills

Ability to respond adaptively in social situations
-Accurately interpreting emotional cues, inhibiting automatic responses, integrating information to respond appropriately

Question 27

What are the implications of brain changes for parenting?

Answer 27

-Effects on executive function (Info-processing model)

-Effects on social relationships

-Effects on well-being more generally
Ability to maintain a job, manage schedule
Psychopathology (e.g., anxiety, depression)
Ability to manage stress

Question 28

Are changes permanent?

Answer 28

Interventions can help prevent or even reverse some of these effects of early adversity on biological regulation and the brain