Early adverse experiences and the neurobiology of facial emotion processing.

Abstract

To examine the neurobiological consequences of early institutionalization, the authors recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) from 3 groups of Romanian children--currently institutionalized, previously institutionalized but randomly assigned to foster care, and family-reared children--in response to pictures of happy, angry, fearful, and sad facial expressions of emotion. At 3 assessments (baseline, 30 months, and 42 months), institutionalized children showed markedly smaller amplitudes and longer latencies for the occipital components P1, N170, and P400 compared to family-reared children. By 42 months, ERP amplitudes and latencies of children placed in foster care were intermediate between the institutionalized and family-reared children, suggesting that foster care may be partially effective in ameliorating adverse neural changes caused by institutionalization. The age at which children were placed into foster care was unrelated to their ERP outcomes at 42 months. Facial emotion processing was similar in all 3 groups of children; specifically, fearful faces elicited larger amplitude and longer latency responses than happy faces for the frontocentral components P250 and Nc. These results have important implications for understanding of the role that experience plays in shaping the developing brain.

Neural Correlates of Face Familiarity in Institutionally Reared Children With Distinctive, Atypical Social Behavior

“…Our results are in agreement with those chronicled in the BEIP sample at baseline, 30-and 42-months assessments; specifically, in this work institutionalized children showed a smaller P1 than those in the never-institutionalized group, with children randomized to foster-care evidencing intermediate P1 amplitudes between these other two groups (Moulson et al, 2009a;Moulson et al, 2009b). The current work extends such literature, as well as our own previous report of within-group comparisons (XXX 2015), in showing that the reductions in P1 amplitudeo be noted, however, is that differences betweenamong the institutionalized children, when compared and to the 29 family-reared group, was attributable to the two groups of children with symptoms of socio-emotional disturbance, that is, the indiscriminate and the inhibited groups.…”

“…Most such work has been EEG and ERP research related to institutional rearing, mostly carried out on the Romanian sample from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) provides evidence of cortical hypoactivation among institutionalized children (BEIP; e.g.,. Marshall, Fox, & the BEIP Core Group, 2004;Moulson, Fox, Zeanah, & Nelson, 2009a;Moulson, Westerlund, Fox, Zeanah, & Nelson, 2009b;Parker et al, 2005a;Parker, Nelson, & The BEIP Core Group, 2005b;Vanderwert, Marshall, Nelson, Zeanah, & Fox, 2010), but -but see Tarullo, Garvin, and Gunnar (2011), studying for a notable exception of a study with a different sample, reported similar results. -provides evidence of cortical hypoactivation among institutionalized children.…”

“…In future work, a re-evaluation of this issue with a larger institutionalized sample could help determine whether that attenuation of hypoactivation in the later stage of processing does or does not apply specifically to institutionalized children with IB.The P400 is a component that demonstrates face sensitivity, likely corresponding to a precursor of the N170 (de Haan, Johnson, & Halit, 2007), which, in turn, is a component reflecting the structural encoding of faces (Eimer, 2011;Kuefner, de Heering, Jacques, Palmero-Soler, & Rossion, 2010). In the BEIP, while group differences were not significant during the face recognition task (Moulson et al, 2009b), during the emotion expressions task institutionalized children did show a smaller P400 than neverinstitutionalized children at 42 months-with children randomized to foster care showing intermediate amplitudes between the other two groups (Moulson et al, 2009a). Together, these findings indicate that children reared in institutions show a blunted P400 but that, again, such effect of institutional rearing seems to be mostly a function of the presence of IB.…”

“…Considered together, tThese findings suggest that the previously reported hypoactivation in institutionalized children, on average (Moulson et al, 2009a;Moulson et al, 2009b;Parker et al, 2005aParker et al, , 2005b, is most characteristic of those who have developed this atypical profile of engagement with adults. IB, characterized by an indiscriminate approach of strangers, is one of the most frequent and persistent effects of early institutional rearing, associated with long-term impairments in social development (Hodges & Tizard, 1989;Kreppner et al, 2010).…”

“…The reductions in amplitudes shown by institutionalized children while perceiving faces have been interpreted as evidence of cortical hypoarousal (Moulson et al, 2009a;Moulson et al, 2009b;Parker et al, 2005a). While there are indications in the literature on EEG spectral power that such hypoactivation might not be exclusive to face processing (Marshall et al, 2004;Tarullo et al, 2011;Vanderwert et al, 2010), it is likely that the networks involved in face processing are particularly affected by institutional rearing (Moulson et al, 2009b).…”