Graham Alice M, Buss Claudia, Rasmussen Jerod M, Rudolph Marc D, Demeter Damion V, Gilmore John H, Styner Martin, Entringer Sonja, Wadhwa Pathik D, Fair Damien A
Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd., Portland, OR 97239, United States.
Department of Medical Psychology, Charité University of Medicine Berlin, Luisenstrasse 57, 10117 Berlin, Germany; Development, Health and Disease Research Program, University of California, Irvine, 837 Health Sciences Drive, Irvine, CA 92697, United States.
Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2016 Apr;18:12-25. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2015.09.006. Epub 2015 Oct 3.
The first year of life is an important period for emergence of fear in humans. While animal models have revealed developmental changes in amygdala circuitry accompanying emerging fear, human neural systems involved in early fear development remain poorly understood. To increase understanding of the neural foundations of human fear, it is important to consider parallel cognitive development, which may modulate associations between typical development of early fear and subsequent risk for fear-related psychopathology. We, therefore, examined amygdala functional connectivity with rs-fcMRI in 48 neonates (M=3.65 weeks, SD=1.72), and measured fear and cognitive development at 6-months-of-age. Stronger, positive neonatal amygdala connectivity to several regions, including bilateral anterior insula and ventral striatum, was prospectively associated with higher fear at 6-months. Stronger amygdala connectivity to ventral anterior cingulate/anterior medial prefrontal cortex predicted a specific phenotype of higher fear combined with more advanced cognitive development. Overall, findings demonstrate unique profiles of neonatal amygdala functional connectivity related to emerging fear and cognitive development, which may have implications for normative and pathological fear in later years. Consideration of infant fear in the context of cognitive development will likely contribute to a more nuanced understanding of fear, its neural bases, and its implications for future mental health.
生命的第一年是人类恐惧出现的重要时期。虽然动物模型已经揭示了杏仁核神经回路随着恐惧出现的发育变化，但参与早期恐惧发展的人类神经系统仍知之甚少。为了增进对人类恐惧神经基础的理解，考虑平行的认知发展很重要，因为它可能调节早期恐惧的典型发展与随后与恐惧相关的精神病理学风险之间的关联。因此，我们使用静息态功能磁共振成像（rs-fcMRI）检查了48名新生儿（平均年龄3.65周，标准差1.72）的杏仁核功能连接，并在6个月大时测量了恐惧和认知发展情况。新生儿杏仁核与包括双侧前岛叶和腹侧纹状体在内的多个区域更强的正向连接，与6个月时更高的恐惧水平呈前瞻性关联。杏仁核与腹侧前扣带回/前额叶内侧皮质更强的连接预示着一种特定的表型，即更高的恐惧水平与更高级的认知发展相结合。总体而言，研究结果表明新生儿杏仁核功能连接与新出现的恐惧和认知发展相关的独特特征，这可能对晚年的正常和病理性恐惧有影响。在认知发展的背景下考虑婴儿恐惧，可能有助于更细致入微地理解恐惧、其神经基础及其对未来心理健康的影响。
