Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA, USA.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2013 May 10;7:167. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00167. eCollection 2013.
Early psychosocial deprivation can negatively impact the development of executive functions (EFs). Here we explore the impact of early psychosocial deprivation on behavioral and physiological measures (i.e., event-related potentials; ERPs) of two facets of EF, inhibitory control and response monitoring, and their associations with internalizing and externalizing outcomes in the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP; Zeanah et al., 2003). This project focuses on two groups of children placed in institutions shortly after birth and then randomly assigned in infancy to either a foster care intervention or to remain in their current institutional setting. A group of community controls was recruited for comparison. The current study assesses these children at 8-years of age examining the effects of early adversity, the potential effects of the intervention on EF and the role of EF skills in socio-emotional outcomes. Results reveal exposure to early psychosocial deprivation was associated with impaired inhibitory control on a flanker task. Children in the foster care intervention exhibited better response monitoring compared to children who remained in the institution on the error-related positivity (Pe). Moreover, among children in the foster care intervention those who exhibited larger error-related negativity (ERN) responses had lower levels of socio-emotional behavior problems. Overall, these data identify specific aspects of EF that contribute to adaptive and maladaptive socio-emotional outcomes among children experiencing early psychosocial deprivation.
早期心理社会剥夺会对执行功能（EF）的发展产生负面影响。在这里，我们探讨了早期心理社会剥夺对执行功能两个方面的行为和生理测量（即事件相关电位；ERPs）的影响，包括抑制控制和反应监控，以及它们与布加勒斯特早期干预项目（BEIP；Zeanah 等人，2003）中内化和外化结果的关系。该项目关注两组出生后不久就被安置在机构中的儿童，然后在婴儿期随机分配到寄养干预组或留在当前机构环境中。招募了一组社区对照组进行比较。目前的研究评估了这些 8 岁的儿童，研究了早期逆境的影响、干预对 EF 的潜在影响以及 EF 技能在社会情感结果中的作用。结果表明，早期心理社会剥夺与在侧翼任务上抑制控制受损有关。与留在机构中的儿童相比，寄养干预组的儿童在错误相关正波（Pe）上表现出更好的反应监控。此外，在寄养干预组的儿童中，表现出更大错误相关负波（ERN）反应的儿童的社会情感行为问题水平较低。总体而言，这些数据确定了 EF 的特定方面，这些方面有助于经历早期心理社会剥夺的儿童的适应性和不适应性社会情感结果。
