Citation

Buchweitz A, de Azeredo LA, Vieira BS, Cará VM, Esper NB, Soder RB, da Costa JC, Portuguez MW, Franco AR, Grassi-Oliveira R. Dev. Sci. 2019; ePub(ePub): e12799.

Affiliation

PUCRS, School of Health Sciences, Graduate Program of Psychology, Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/desc.12799

PMID

30648778

Abstract

The present study investigated exposure to violence and its association with brain function and hair cortisol concentrations in Latin-American preadolescents. Self-reported victimization scores (JVQ-R2), brain imaging (fMRI) indices for a social cognition task (the "eyes test"), and hair cortisol concentrations were investigated, for the first time, in this population. The eyes test is based on two conditions: attributing mental state or sex to pictures of pairs of eyes (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Hill, Raste, & Plumb, 2001). The Results showed an association among higher victimization scores and (1) less activation of posterior temporoparietal right-hemisphere areas, in the mental state condition only (including right temporal sulcus and fusiform gyrus); (2) higher functional connectivity indices for the Amygdala and Right Fusiform Gyrus (RFFG) pair of brain regions, also in the mental state condition only; (3) higher hair cortisol concentrations. The results suggest more exposure to violence is associated with significant differences in social cognition brain function and communication: A putative mechanism of less activation in posterior right-hemisphere regions and of synchronized Amygdala:RFFG time series was identified in the mental state condition only. The results also suggest measurable effects of exposure to violence in hair cortisol concentrations, which contribute to the reliability of self-reported scores by young adolescents. The findings are discussed in light of the effects of exposure to violence on brain function and on social-cognitive development in the adolescent brain. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Language: en