A preliminary study of medial temporal lobe function in youths with a history of caregiver deprivation and emotional neglect.
Previous research findings have linked caregiver deprivation and emotional neglect with sensitivity to threatening cues. The present preliminary study investigated whether dysfunctions of the medial temporal lobe could underlie these associations. Using fMRI, we measured medial temporal lobe responses to emotional faces (angry, fearful, happy, neutral) among 30 youths. Eleven of the youths had a history of caregiver deprivation and emotional neglect. Attention states (i.e., attention to anger, fear, or physical attributes, or passive viewing) were systematically manipulated. Relative to comparison youths, youths with a history of caregiver deprivation and emotional neglect showed significantly greater left amygdala and left anterior hippocampus activation during the processing of threatening information. To our knowledge, these findings are the first to demonstrate altered medial temporal lobe function during the processing of threat cues in youths with a history of caregiver deprivation and emotional neglect.
Research Centre of the CHU Ste-Justine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. francoise.maheu@umontreal.ca
Françoise S
FS
Maheu
Mary
M
Dozier
Amanda E
AE
Guyer
Darcy
D
Mandell
Elizabeth
E
Peloso
Kaitlin
K
Poeth
Jessica
J
Jenness
Jennifer Y F
JY
Lau
John P
JP
Ackerman
Daniel S
DS
Pine
Monique
M
Ernst
D000293:Adolescent; D000679:Amygdala / Q000098:blood supply / Q000503:physiopathology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000098:blood supply / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013997:Time Factors
D010100:Oxygen