Biological psychiatry
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Biological psychiatry · Dec 2011
Adverse rearing environments and neural development in children: the development of frontal electroencephalogram asymmetry.
Children raised in institutional settings experience marked deprivation in social and environmental stimulation. This deprivation may disrupt brain development in ways that increase risk for psychopathology. Differential hemispheric activation of the frontal cortex is an established biological substrate of affective style that is associated with internalizing psychopathology. Previous research has never characterized the development of frontal electroencephalogram asymmetry in children or evaluated whether adverse rearing environments alter developmental trajectories. ⋯ Exposure to adverse rearing environments can alter brain development, culminating in heightened risk for psychopathology. Interventions delivered early in life have the greatest potential to mitigate the long-term effects of these environments.