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Functional brain plasticity following childhood maltreatment: A longitudinal fMRI investigation of autobiographical memory processing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2021

V. B. Puetz Open the ORCID record for V. B. Puetz [Opens in a new window] ,
E. Viding ,
E. A. Maguire ,
A. Mechelli ,
D. Armbruster-Genç ,
M. Sharp ,
G. Rankin ,
M. I. Gerin  and
E. J. McCrory
V. B. Puetz
Affiliation:
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK The Anna Freud Centre, London, UK
E. Viding
Affiliation:
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK
E. A. Maguire
Affiliation:
Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
A. Mechelli
Affiliation:
Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
D. Armbruster-Genç
Affiliation:
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK
M. Sharp
Affiliation:
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK
G. Rankin
Affiliation:
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK
M. I. Gerin
Affiliation:
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK
E. J. McCrory*
Affiliation:
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK The Anna Freud Centre, London, UK
*
Corresponding author: E. J. McCrory, email: e.mccrory@ucl.ac.uk
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Abstract

Altered autobiographical memory (ABM) processing characterizes some individuals with experiences of childhood maltreatment. This fMRI study of ABM processing evaluated potential developmental plasticity in neural functioning following maltreatment. Adolescents with (N = 19; MT group) and without (N = 18; Non-MT group) documented childhood maltreatment recalled specific ABMs in response to emotionally valenced cue words during fMRI at baseline (age 12.71 ± 1.48) and follow-up (14.88 ± 1.53 years). Psychological assessments were collected at both timepoints. Longitudinal analyses were carried out with BOLD signal changes during ABM recall and psychopathology to investigate change over time. In both groups there was relative stability of the ABM brain network, with some developmental maturational changes observed in cortical midline structures (ventromedial PFC (vmPFC), posterior cingulate cortex (pCC), and retrosplenial cortex (rSC). Significantly increased activation of the right rSC was observed only in the MT group, which was associated with improved psychological functioning. Baseline group differences in relation to hippocampal functioning, were not detected at follow-up. This study provides preliminary empirical evidence of functional developmental plasticity in children with documented maltreatment experience using fMRI. This suggests that altered patterns of brain function, associated with maltreatment experience, are not fixed and may reflect the potential to track a neural basis of resilience.

Keywords

autobiographical memorybrain plasticitychildhood maltreatmentfMRIlongitudinal study
Type
Regular Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , August 2023 , pp. 1382 - 1389
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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