Department of Education, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel.
School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Herzliya, Israel.
Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2019 Jan;4(1):72-80. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2018.09.009. Epub 2018 Oct 3.
Early life stress (ELS) bears long-term negative consequences throughout life. Yet ELS effect is mostly unknown, and no study has followed children to test its impact on the default mode network (DMN) in relation to maternal behavior across childhood. Focusing on brain oscillations, we utilized a unique cohort of war-exposed preadolescent children (11-13 years of age) and their mothers followed from early childhood to examine the effects of ELS combined with observed parenting on DMN connectivity and power in mother and child.
Participants included 161 mothers and children (children: 39 exposed/36 control subjects; mothers: 44 exposed/42 control subjects) who underwent magnetoencephalography scanning during rest.
Stress exposure reduced DMN connectivity in mother and child; however, in mothers, the impaired connectivity occurred in the alpha band, whereas among children it occurred in the theta band, a biomarker of the developing brain. Maternal anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic symptoms in early childhood predicted lower maternal DMN connectivity. Among children, the experience of intrusive, anxious, and uncontained parenting across the first decade and greater cortisol production in late childhood predicted reduced DMN connectivity in preadolescence. Impairments to theta DMN connectivity increased in children with posttraumatic stress disorder.
Findings indicate that ELS disrupts the synchronous coordination of distinct brain areas into coherent functioning of the DMN network, a core network implicated in self-relevant processes. Results suggest that one pathway for the lifelong effects of ELS on psychopathology and physical illness relate to impaired coherence of the DMN and its role in maintaining quiescence, alternating internal and external attention, and supporting the sense of self.
早期生活压力（ELS）会对人的一生产生长期的负面影响。然而，ELS 的影响在很大程度上是未知的，并且没有研究跟踪儿童，以测试其对默认模式网络（DMN）的影响，以及与整个儿童期的母婴行为的关系。我们专注于大脑的振荡，利用一个独特的战争中暴露的青春期前儿童队列（11-13 岁）及其母亲，从儿童早期开始进行跟踪，以研究 ELS 与观察到的育儿行为相结合，对母亲和孩子的 DMN 连接和功率的影响。
参与者包括 161 名母亲和孩子（孩子：39 名暴露/36 名对照；母亲：44 名暴露/42 名对照），他们在休息时接受了脑磁图扫描。
压力暴露降低了母婴的 DMN 连接；然而，在母亲中，受损的连接发生在 alpha 波段，而在儿童中，它发生在 theta 波段，这是大脑发育的生物标志物。儿童早期的母亲焦虑、抑郁和创伤后症状预测了较低的母亲 DMN 连接。在儿童中，整个 10 年期间经历侵入性、焦虑和无法控制的育儿以及晚童年时期的皮质醇产生较高，预测了青春期前 DMN 连接的减少。创伤后应激障碍儿童的 theta DMN 连接受损增加。
研究结果表明，ELS 破坏了不同大脑区域的同步协调，形成 DMN 网络的连贯功能，DMN 网络是一个与自我相关过程有关的核心网络。结果表明，ELS 对精神病理学和身体疾病的终生影响的一个途径与 DMN 的连贯性受损及其在维持静止、交替内部和外部注意力以及支持自我意识方面的作用有关。
