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Early adversity and brain response to faces in young adulthood
Johannes Lieslehto1,2, Vesa Kiviniemi3,4, Pirjo Mäki1,5,4,6
1Department of Psychiatry, Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
Human Brain Mapping
|June 15, 2017
Summary
Early adversity impacts brain responses to fearful faces and emotion recognition. This effect is linked to glucocorticoid receptor gene expression, suggesting the glucocorticoid system mediates the association.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Genetics
Background:
- Early life stress influences vulnerability to psychopathology.
- The diathesis-stress model links stress, glucocorticoids, and mental health.
- Individuals with early adversity show deficits in facial emotion processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between early adversities and brain responses to faces.
- To explore the role of glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) expression in this association.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to study brain responses to faces in 104 individuals from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986.
- A large independent dataset (IMAGEN, N=1739) was used to refine fMRI data analysis.
- Glucocorticoid receptor gene expression data from the Allen Human Brain Atlas were correlated with fMRI findings.
Main Results:
- Early adversities were linked to altered brain responses to fearful faces (P=0.006).
- Individuals with early adversity showed poorer recognition of fearful facial expressions (P=0.01).
- Glucocorticoid receptor gene expression correlated with the strength of the association between early adversity and brain response to fearful faces (R²=0.25, P=0.01).
Conclusions:
- Early adversities contribute to altered brain processing of facial cues.
- The glucocorticoid system, via the glucocorticoid receptor gene, partially mediates the link between early adversity and brain responses to faces.
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