Child Psychology and Psychiatry

Box
20.1
Summary
of
structural
and
functional
brain
differences
associated with maltreatment
In summary, there is relatively consistent
evidence for reduced white matter and
reduced grey matter volume in the
cerebellum of maltreated children, but no
differences in relation to the hippocam-
pus. The structural findings are more
mixed for the PFC. Functional brain imag-
ing research suggests that experience of
maltreatment is associated with increased
amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex
response in affective and cognitive control
paradigms, respectively. Event-related
potential (ERP) studies have found that
children who have experienced severe
social deprivation show a generalized pat-
tern of cortical hypoactivation. Increased
brain activity, specifically to angry faces in
prefrontal regions, has also been observed
in physically maltreated children, likely
to represent the neural correlates of
increased attentional monitoring for social
threat.
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