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Amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex connectivity relates to stress and mental health in early childhood

Authors :
Julia A. Leonard
John D. E. Gabrieli
Patricia K. Saxler
Anne T. Park
Allyson P. Mackey
Abigail B Cyr
Source :
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
Publication Year :
2018
Publisher :
Oxford University Press (OUP), 2018.

Abstract

Early life stress has been associated with disrupted functional connectivity between the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), but it is unknown how early in development stress-related differences in amygdala–mPFC connectivity emerge. In a resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analysis with 79 four- to seven-year-old children, we found a significant correlation between more adverse experiences and weaker amygdala–mPFC rs-FC. We also found that weaker amygdala–mPFC rs-FC was associated with higher levels of aggressive behavior and attention problems. These findings suggest that the impact of stress on emotional circuitry is detectable in early childhood and that this impact is associated with mental health difficulties. Connectivity in this circuit may be useful as a marker for mental health risk and for tracking the efficacy of early interventions.

Details

ISSN :
17495024 and 17495016
Volume :
13
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....e28a3f4f8a399c2aa63adbe9e26bc783