Electrocortical Correlates of Emotion Processing and Resilience in Individuals with Adverse Childhood Experiences

AbstractChildhood trauma is associated with poor health outcomes in adulthood, largely due to the impact of chronic stress on the body. Fortunately, there are certain protective characteristics, such asconstraint (i.e., impulse control, inhibition, and avoidance of unconventional behavior and risk) andcognitive reappraisal (i.e., reframing circumstances in a more positive light). In the present study, we investigated the interaction between childhood trauma, resilience, and neural correlates of emotion processing. Participants responded to survey questions regarding childhood trauma and resilient characteristics. They were later invited to passively view neutral, unpleasant, and pleasant images while their brain activity was recorded via electroencephalography (EEG). We analyzed two event-related potential (ERP) components of interest: the Early Posterior Negativity (EPN) and Late Positive Potential (LPP). We found that childhood trauma was associated with decreased constraint and reduced sensitivity to unpleasant images (i.e., decreased LPP amplitude differences between neutral and unpleasant images as compared to controls). Further, constraint predicted increased sensitivity to pleasant images. In a hierarchical linear regression analysis, we found that constraint moderated the relation between childhood trauma and emotion processing, such that it predicted increased sensitivity to unpleasant images for adults with childhood trauma in particular. Childhood trauma and cognit...
Source: Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma - Category: Child Development Source Type: research