Stress and trauma during adolescence can lead to long-term health consequences, such as mental disorders, which may arise from neurodevelopmental effects on brain circuits.
According to what was published by the site Neuroscience NewsIn Biological Psychiatry, Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, a new study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the effects of acute stress and “multiple victimization,” or repetitive trauma, on three brain networks in adolescents.
“While negative health outcomes have been separately associated with exposure to abuse early in life, disrupted adolescent neurodevelopment, and abnormal neural network responses to acute stress, no previous study has examined How these factors relate to each other. But the latest study aimed to piece together these pieces of the puzzle.”
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3 brain networks
Professor Kaur and colleagues sought to explore “how acute stress affects the functional connectivity” of the brain’s triple networks, specifically, in reference to the default mode network, the salience network, and the central executive network.
Together, the three networks are essential for controlling cognition, emotion, and social interaction. Deviant activity in and between the triad networks has long been associated with psychological symptoms.
The researchers analyzed FC data, previously collected from 79 children ages 9 to 16, many of whom had been repeatedly abused.
To measure the effects of acute stress on brain connectivity, participants completed a task while undergoing an fMRI scan. In the control condition, participants completed math problems at their own pace and were told that their answers were not scored; In the stress condition, participants had to quickly solve math problems within a set amount of time and were given negative feedback about their performance throughout the test.
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Variable functional connection
During the acute stress condition, participants demonstrated altered functional connectivity between the three brain networks.
Specifically, the researchers saw an increase in functional connectivity between the default and central executive networks, and a decrease between the salient network and the other two networks.
The researchers hypothesize that the insula, a brain region associated with inwardly directed attention, can mediate the observed changes in functional connectivity.
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Frequently hurt
The researchers also sought to investigate how the neural network stress response is affected by multiple victimization, as adolescents can experience multiple forms of abuse, including abuse by parents, peers or other adults.
By studying multiple abuse, researchers can study the potential cumulative effects on the brain of repeated exposure to harm. The results indicated that participants who had been repeatedly abused were more likely to show greater declines in functional connectivity between the salient networks, the default mode, and the island in particular.
Taken together, the findings suggest that the brain may have adapted to repeated trauma to make it less able to respond to stressful experiences. A better understanding of the neurodevelopmental effects of trauma on the brain will help researchers to better address the resulting psychological outcomes.
Professor Cameron Carter, Editor-in-Chief of Biological Psychiatry, said: “This study shows how repetitive trauma can lead to an maladaptive response to acute stress in important functional brain networks and reveals a possible mechanism by which multiple processes may be triggered early. Life stresses lead to increased nervous vulnerability to stress and responsibility related to mental health problems in the future.