Cumulative stress in childhood is associated with blunted reward-related brain activity in adulthood.

Hanson, JL

Albert, WD

Iselin, AR

Carré, JM

Dodge, KA

Hariri, AR

England

2015-10-23T17:15:51Z

2016-03

Early life stress (ELS) is strongly associated with negative outcomes in adulthood, including reduced motivation and increased negative mood. The mechanisms mediating these relations, however, are poorly understood. We examined the relation between exposure to ELS and reward-related brain activity, which is known to predict motivation and mood, at age 26, in a sample followed since kindergarten with annual assessments. Using functional neuroimaging, we assayed individual differences in the activity of the ventral striatum (VS) during the processing of monetary rewards associated with a simple card-guessing task, in a sample of 72 male participants. We examined associations between a cumulative measure of ELS exposure and VS activity in adulthood. We found that greater levels of cumulative stress during childhood and adolescence predicted lower reward-related VS activity in adulthood. Extending this general developmental pattern, we found that exposure to stress early in development (between kindergarten and grade 3) was significantly associated with variability in adult VS activity. Our results provide an important demonstration that cumulative life stress, especially during this childhood period, is associated with blunted reward-related VS activity in adulthood. These differences suggest neurobiological pathways through which a history of ELS may contribute to reduced motivation and increased negative mood.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26443679

nsv124

1749-5024

https://hdl.handle.net/10161/10777

eng

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci

10.1093/scan/nsv124

early life stress

fMRI

neurodevelopment

reward

ventral striatum

Adolescent

Adult

Affect

Brain

Child

Child, Preschool

Humans

Individuality

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Male

Motivation

Reward

Stress, Psychological

Ventral Striatum

Cumulative stress in childhood is associated with blunted reward-related brain activity in adulthood.

Journal article

Dodge, KA|0000-0001-5932-215X

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26443679

405

412

3

Center for Child and Family Policy

Duke

Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

Duke Population Research Center

Duke Population Research Institute

Duke Science & Society

Duke-UNC Center for Brain Imaging and Analysis

Initiatives

Institutes and Centers

Institutes and Provost's Academic Units

Psychology and Neuroscience

Sanford School of Public Policy

School of Medicine

Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

University Institutes and Centers

Published

11