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Study finds that early adverse experiences have lasting effects on brain structure, increasing the risk of cognitive and emotional problems
Researchers at Mass General Brigham have discovered a direct link between adverse early childhood experiences and changes in brain development during adolescence. The focus of the study was on the white matter, which is responsible for connect different regions of the brain.
Results indicate that less developed connections are linked to lower cognitive performance. The study also found that certain social factors can help reduce the negative impacts.
White matter acts as a communication network within the brain. It allows different areas to work together to support thoughts and behaviors.
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These connections continue to develop throughout childhood. The environment in which a child grows up can directly influence this process.
Sofia Carozza, PhD, and Amar Dhand, MD, PhD, led the research. Both are in the Department of Neurology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, part of the Mass General Brigham system.
They wanted to understand how early experiences affect the adolescent brain and, consequently, cognitive performance.
Study with more than 9 thousand children
The researchers used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, which is funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and encompasses 21 research centers across the country.
Data from 9.082 children with an average age of 9,5 years were analyzed. About half of the participants were girls.
The database included information on brain activity, brain structure, cognitive abilities, living environment, mood and mental health. Environmental factors analyzed included prenatal risks, economic deprivation, interpersonal adversities, neighborhood difficulties and elements of social support.
Scientists used diffusion imaging of the brain to measure two characteristics of white matter: fractional anisotropy (FA), which estimates the integrity of connections, and simplified count, which estimates their strength.
With this, they compared the results with childhood environmental factors and with children's cognitive abilities, such as language and mental calculation.
The results showed that adverse childhood experiences are linked to broad differences in white matter connections. These changes appeared in several regions of the brain, especially in areas related to mental arithmetic and receptive language.
Carozza highlighted that the effects of adversity are not concentrated in just one or two points in the brain. “The aspects of white matter that show a relationship with the environment we live in early in life are much more present in the brain than we thought. Rather than just one or two tracts that are important for cognition, the entire brain is related to the adversities someone may face early in life.”, He stated.
These differences in brain connections partly explain why children who have experienced adversity tend to have lower cognitive performance in adolescence. However, the researchers also observed something positive.
Protective factors make a difference in cognitive performance
Some elements of the social environment act as a buffer for the developing brain. These include supportive parents and strong neighborhood cohesion. These factors helped reduce the negative effects observed on white matter.
Carozza commented on the importance of ensuring a stable environment during childhood. “We are all embedded in an environment, and features of that environment, such as our relationships, home life, neighborhood, or material circumstances, can shape the development of our brains and bodies, which in turn affects what we can do with them.” said Carozza.
“We must work to ensure that more people can have the stable, healthy home lives that the brain craves, especially in childhood.”He concluded.
Despite the advances, the authors highlight the limitations of the study. The data are observational and the brain images were collected only once. Therefore, it is not possible to state cause-and-effect relationships with certainty.
To confirm the results, studies that follow the children for longer, collecting brain images at different stages, would be needed. Even so, the findings shed light on how childhood environments can influence later cognitive development.
With information from SciTechDaily.
