Moulson Margaret C, Fox Nathan A, Zeanah Charles H, Nelson Charles A
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA, USA.
Dev Psychol. 2009 Jan;45(1):17-30. doi: 10.1037/a0014035.
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.
为了研究早期机构养育的神经生物学后果，作者记录了3组罗马尼亚儿童（目前仍在机构中养育、曾在机构中养育但被随机分配到寄养家庭以及由家庭抚养的儿童）对快乐、愤怒、恐惧和悲伤面部表情图片的事件相关电位（ERP）。在3次评估（基线、30个月和42个月）中，与家庭抚养的儿童相比，机构养育的儿童枕叶成分P1、N170和P400的波幅明显更小，潜伏期更长。到42个月时，寄养儿童的ERP波幅和潜伏期介于机构养育儿童和家庭抚养儿童之间，这表明寄养可能在一定程度上有效改善机构养育引起的不良神经变化。儿童进入寄养家庭的年龄与他们42个月时的ERP结果无关。在所有3组儿童中，面部情绪处理情况相似；具体而言，对于额中央成分P250和Nc，恐惧面孔比快乐面孔引发的波幅更大、潜伏期更长。这些结果对于理解经验在塑造发育中大脑所起的作用具有重要意义。
