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Cited by 660Child Abuse and TraumaPsychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual OffendingChild Welfare and Adoption

Neuroimaging of child abuse: a critical review

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Hart, Heledd, Rubia, Katya·2012·Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
DOI 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00052PMC PMC3307045
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Abstract

Childhood maltreatment is a stressor that can lead to the development of behavior problems and affect brain structure and function. This review summarizes the current evidence for the effects of childhood maltreatment on behavior, cognition and the brain in adults and children. Neuropsychological studies suggest an association between child abuse and deficits in IQ, memory, working memory, attention, response inhibition and emotion discrimination. Structural neuroimaging studies provide evidence for deficits in brain volume, gray and white matter of several regions, most prominently the dorsolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex but also hippocampus, amygdala, and corpus callosum (CC). Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies show evidence for deficits in structural interregional connectivity between these areas, suggesting neural network abnormalities. Functional imaging studies support this evidence by reporting atypical activation in the same brain regions during response inhibition, working memory, and emotion processing. There are, however, several limitations of the abuse research literature which are discussed, most prominently the lack of control for co-morbid psychiatric disorders, which make it difficult to disentangle which of the above effects are due to maltreatment, the associated psychiatric conditions or a combination or interaction between both. Overall, the better controlled studies that show a direct correlation between childhood abuse and brain measures suggest that the most prominent deficits associated with early childhood abuse are in the function and structure of lateral and ventromedial fronto-limbic brain areas and networks that mediate behavioral and affect control. Future, large scale multimodal neuroimaging studies in medication-naïve subjects, however, are needed that control for psychiatric co-morbidities in order to elucidate the structural and functional brain sequelae that are associated with early environmental adversity, independently of secondary co-morbid conditions.

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  • Human studies have found gray matter volume losses in the frontal lobes in adults exposed to child adversities, most prominently in the dorsolateral and medial prefrontal and orbitofrontal regions and in the anterior cingulate.

    “Furthermore, human studies have found gray matter volume losses in the frontal lobes in adults exposed to child adversities, most prominently in the dorsolateral and medial prefrontal and orbitofrontal regions and in the anterior cingulate [69,70] .”

    From The traumagenic neurodevelopmental model of psychosis revisited (2014) · cites this paper as [70]

    The Prefrontal cortex section reports reduced frontal gray matter in adults exposed to childhood maltreatment, including the dorsolateral and medial prefrontal regions. The Anterior Cingulate Cortex section also reports reduced ACC volume in adults. However, the review’s specific finding of smaller orbitofrontal volume concerns physically abused children, so it does not establish that part of the claim for adults. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • Studies of adolescents and adults provide consistent evidence of smaller prefrontal cortex gray matter volumes after ELA, paralleling findings from experimental animal models designed to demonstrate causality.

    “Studies of adolescents and adults provide consistent evidence of smaller PFC gray matter volumes after ELA, paralleling findings from experimental animal models designed to demonstrate causality [21, 24, 25].”

    From Biological embedding of childhood adversity: from physiological mechanisms to clinical implications (2017) · cites this paper as [24]

    The Structural brain changes > Prefrontal cortex section reports reduced prefrontal gray matter in adults maltreated as children. It describes mixed prefrontal-volume findings in younger subjects, rather than consistent evidence of smaller gray matter volumes across adolescents and adults. The passages found do not establish the claimed parallel with experimental animal models or a causal demonstration. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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  • Extensive literature links ELA to pervasive, quantifiable variation in brain structure and function.

    “Extensive literature links ELA to pervasive, quantifiable variation in brain structure and function [15, 21, 24, 25].”

    From Biological embedding of childhood adversity: from physiological mechanisms to clinical implications (2017) · cites this paper as [24]

  • Early threat exposure has consistently been associated with reduced hippocampal volume in adults, but studies of children have generally not found a relationship between threat exposure and hippocampal volume.

    “early threat exposure has consistently been associated with reduced hippocampal volume in adults (Andersen and Teicher, 2008; Hart and Rubia, 2012; Teicher et al., 2012), studies of children have generally not found a relationship between threat exposure and hippocampal volume”

    From Childhood adversity and neural development: Deprivation and threat as distinct dimensions of early experience (2014) · cites this paper as Hart and Rubia, 2012

  • PI children's difficulties with these tasks are consistent with animal models of early deprivation and with human neuroimaging studies linking early adverse care to structural and functional changes in fronto-striatal circuitry.

    “PI children’s difficulties with these tasks are consistent with animal models of early deprivation (Sanchez, Ladd, & Plotsky, 2001) and human neuroimaging studies showing links between early adverse care and structural and functional changes in fronto-striatal circuitry (Hart & Rubia, 2012; Nelson, Bos, Gunnar, & Sonuga-Barke, 2011).”

    From Inhibitory control and working memory in post-institutionalized children (2013) · cites this paper as Hart & Rubia, 2012

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Fabiani M. Gratton G. Colesm M. G. H. (2000). “Event-related brain potentials: methods, theory and appications,” in Handbook of Psychophysiology, 2nd edn, eds Cacioppo J. T. Tassinary L. G. Berntson G. G. (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press), 53– 84
  2. Thompson M. P. Kaslow N. J. Kingree J. B. Puett R. Thompson N. J. Meadows L. (1999b). Partner abuse and posttraumatic stress disorder as risk factors for suicide attempts in a sample of low-income, inner city women. J. Trauma. Stress 12, 59– 72 10.1023/A:1024742215337 10027142 · DOI

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Authors
Hart, H., & Rubia, K.
Affiliations
King's College London (GB)
Corresponding author
Hart, Heledd
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2012
Volume
6
Pages
52-52
ISSN
1662-5161 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fnhum.2012.00052
PMC
PMC3307045
OpenAlex
W1999889452
Cited by
660
References
195
Citations by year
2026: 25 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 51 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 39 · 2021: 52 · 2020: 52 · 2019: 64 · 2018: 61 · 2017: 48 · 2016: 55 · 2015: 53 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 8
FWCI
43.65
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc
Locations
  • Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Child Welfare and Adoption
Keywords
child abuse, neuroimaging, brain structure, brain function, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, corpus callosum, white matter, gray matter, diffusion tensor imaging, functional connectivity, response inhibition, working memory, emotional processing, IQ deficits, psychiatric comorbidity, environmental adversity, behavioral problems

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