title: The effect of childhood trauma on spatial cognition in adults: a possible role of sex.
abstract: Although animal evidence indicates that early life trauma results in pervasive hippocampal deficits underlying spatial and cognitive impairment, visuo-spatial data from adult humans with early childhood adversity are lacking. We administered 4 tests of visuo-spatial ability from the Cambridge Neuorpsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) to adults with a history of childhood trauma (measured by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) and a matched sample of healthy controls (trauma/control = 27/28). We observed a significant effect of trauma history on spatial/pattern learning. These effects could not be accounted for by adverse adult experiences, and were sex-specific, with prior adversity improving performance in men but worsening performance in women, relative to controls. Limitations include the small sample size and reliance of our study design on a retrospective, self report measure. Our results suggest that early adversity can lead to specific and pervasive deficits in adult cognitive function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Groote Schuur Hospital, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, supriya.syal@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Supriya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Syal
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ipser
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Kevin G F
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Jack
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van der Honk
authors.forename: Dan J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Stein
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000639:trends; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards; D055815:Young Adult