Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK.
Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, London, UK.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2018 Jan 1;13(1):124-134. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsx124.
Maltreatment is associated with increased risk of a range of psychiatric disorders, many of which are characterized by altered risk-taking propensity. Currently, little is known about the neural correlates of risk-taking in children exposed to maltreatment, nor whether their risk-taking is atypically modulated by peer influence. Seventy-five 10- to 14-year-old children [maltreated (MT) group: N = 41; non-maltreated Group (NMT): N = 34] performed a Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), under three different peer influence conditions: while alone, while being observed by a peer and while being encouraged by a peer to take risks. The MT group engaged in less risk-taking irrespective of peer influence. There was no differential effect of peer influence on risk-taking behaviour across groups. At the neural level, the right anterior insula (rAI) exhibited altered risk sensitivity across conditions in the MT group. Across groups and conditions, rAI risk sensitivity was negatively associated with risk-taking and within the MT group greater rAI risk sensitivity was related to more anxiety symptoms. These findings suggest that children with a history of maltreatment show reduced risk-taking but typical responses to peer influence. Abnormal rAI functioning contributes to the pattern of reduced risk-taking and may predispose children exposed to maltreatment to develop future psychopathology.
虐待与一系列精神疾病的风险增加有关，其中许多疾病的特征是冒险倾向改变。目前，对于遭受虐待的儿童冒险行为的神经相关性知之甚少，也不知道他们的冒险行为是否会受到同伴影响的异常调节。75 名 10 至 14 岁的儿童[受虐（MT）组：N=41；未受虐组（NMT）：N=34]在三种不同的同伴影响条件下完成了气球模拟风险任务（BART）：单独、被同伴观察和被同伴鼓励冒险。MT 组无论受到何种同伴影响，冒险行为都较少。同伴影响对两组的冒险行为没有不同的影响。在神经水平上，右前岛（rAI）在 MT 组的不同条件下表现出风险敏感性改变。在整个组和条件下，rAI 风险敏感性与风险行为呈负相关，在 MT 组中，rAI 风险敏感性越高，焦虑症状越多。这些发现表明，有虐待史的儿童表现出较低的冒险行为，但对同伴影响有典型的反应。异常的 rAI 功能会导致冒险行为减少，并可能使遭受虐待的儿童易患未来的精神病理学。
