Cognitive and physiological responsiveness of abused children

Videotaped scenes of everyday events were shown to hospitalized abused and nonabused children and to a nonhospitalized peer group. The children's heart rates were taken as they viewed the scenes and they responded to questions about the content of the scenes. The hospitalized children reacted to the scenes with a larger decrease in heart rate than did the nonhospitalized children. The abused children reported more negative outcomes to the scenes, more negative feelings, and that they had experienced the events depicted more often than did either group of nonabused children.