Sexual Abuse in Adolescents Is Associated With Atypically Increased Responsiveness Within Regions Implicated in Self-Referential and Emotional Processing to Approaching Animate Threats
Childhood sexual abuse is associated with significant subsequent pathology and neurodevelopmental disruption. In particular, childhood sexual abuse has been associated with heightened threat sensitivity. However, little work has directly investigated this issue. In this study, we examine the associa...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-06-01
|
Series: | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00345/full |
id |
doaj-24a36956f99147fdb96f73d4106531f8 |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-24a36956f99147fdb96f73d4106531f82020-11-25T02:49:49ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychiatry1664-06402020-06-011110.3389/fpsyt.2020.00345510322Sexual Abuse in Adolescents Is Associated With Atypically Increased Responsiveness Within Regions Implicated in Self-Referential and Emotional Processing to Approaching Animate ThreatsKarina S. Blair0Johannah Bashford-Largo1Niraj Shah2Jennie Lukoff3Jaimie Elowsky4Steven Vogel5Amanda Emmert6Ru Zhang7Matthew Dobbertin8Seth Pollak9James R. Blair10Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United StatesCenter for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United StatesCenter for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United StatesCenter for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United StatesCenter for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United StatesCenter for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United StatesDepartment of Psychiatry, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE, United StatesCenter for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United StatesCenter for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United StatesCenter for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United StatesChildhood sexual abuse is associated with significant subsequent pathology and neurodevelopmental disruption. In particular, childhood sexual abuse has been associated with heightened threat sensitivity. However, little work has directly investigated this issue. In this study, we examine the association of childhood sexual abuse to neural and behavioral responses to looming, threatening face stimuli. The study involved 23 adolescents with significant past sexual abuse and 24 comparison individuals matched on IQ, age, and sex. Participants were scanned during a looming threat task that involved negative and neutral, human faces and animals that appeared to either loom toward or recede from the participant. We found that adolescents who had been previously subjected to sexual abuse, relative to comparison adolescents, showed increased neural responses to threatening looming stimuli in regions including rostral and superior frontal gyrus as well as posterior cingulate gyrus. In addition, they were significantly more slowed by looming stimuli, particularly if these were human faces, than adolescents who had not been exposed. These data demonstrate that prior sexual abuse was associated with heightened neural responsiveness to looming threats in a series of regions beyond the amygdala. These data are interpreted within models of rostromedial frontal and posterior cingulate cortices that stress their role in self-referential emotional processing and emotional maintenance.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00345/fullchildhood sexual abusethreat responsivenesslooming threatadolescentsfunctional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Karina S. Blair Johannah Bashford-Largo Niraj Shah Jennie Lukoff Jaimie Elowsky Steven Vogel Amanda Emmert Ru Zhang Matthew Dobbertin Seth Pollak James R. Blair |
spellingShingle |
Karina S. Blair Johannah Bashford-Largo Niraj Shah Jennie Lukoff Jaimie Elowsky Steven Vogel Amanda Emmert Ru Zhang Matthew Dobbertin Seth Pollak James R. Blair Sexual Abuse in Adolescents Is Associated With Atypically Increased Responsiveness Within Regions Implicated in Self-Referential and Emotional Processing to Approaching Animate Threats Frontiers in Psychiatry childhood sexual abuse threat responsiveness looming threat adolescents functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) |
author_facet |
Karina S. Blair Johannah Bashford-Largo Niraj Shah Jennie Lukoff Jaimie Elowsky Steven Vogel Amanda Emmert Ru Zhang Matthew Dobbertin Seth Pollak James R. Blair |
author_sort |
Karina S. Blair |
title |
Sexual Abuse in Adolescents Is Associated With Atypically Increased Responsiveness Within Regions Implicated in Self-Referential and Emotional Processing to Approaching Animate Threats |
title_short |
Sexual Abuse in Adolescents Is Associated With Atypically Increased Responsiveness Within Regions Implicated in Self-Referential and Emotional Processing to Approaching Animate Threats |
title_full |
Sexual Abuse in Adolescents Is Associated With Atypically Increased Responsiveness Within Regions Implicated in Self-Referential and Emotional Processing to Approaching Animate Threats |
title_fullStr |
Sexual Abuse in Adolescents Is Associated With Atypically Increased Responsiveness Within Regions Implicated in Self-Referential and Emotional Processing to Approaching Animate Threats |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sexual Abuse in Adolescents Is Associated With Atypically Increased Responsiveness Within Regions Implicated in Self-Referential and Emotional Processing to Approaching Animate Threats |
title_sort |
sexual abuse in adolescents is associated with atypically increased responsiveness within regions implicated in self-referential and emotional processing to approaching animate threats |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Psychiatry |
issn |
1664-0640 |
publishDate |
2020-06-01 |
description |
Childhood sexual abuse is associated with significant subsequent pathology and neurodevelopmental disruption. In particular, childhood sexual abuse has been associated with heightened threat sensitivity. However, little work has directly investigated this issue. In this study, we examine the association of childhood sexual abuse to neural and behavioral responses to looming, threatening face stimuli. The study involved 23 adolescents with significant past sexual abuse and 24 comparison individuals matched on IQ, age, and sex. Participants were scanned during a looming threat task that involved negative and neutral, human faces and animals that appeared to either loom toward or recede from the participant. We found that adolescents who had been previously subjected to sexual abuse, relative to comparison adolescents, showed increased neural responses to threatening looming stimuli in regions including rostral and superior frontal gyrus as well as posterior cingulate gyrus. In addition, they were significantly more slowed by looming stimuli, particularly if these were human faces, than adolescents who had not been exposed. These data demonstrate that prior sexual abuse was associated with heightened neural responsiveness to looming threats in a series of regions beyond the amygdala. These data are interpreted within models of rostromedial frontal and posterior cingulate cortices that stress their role in self-referential emotional processing and emotional maintenance. |
topic |
childhood sexual abuse threat responsiveness looming threat adolescents functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00345/full |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT karinasblair sexualabuseinadolescentsisassociatedwithatypicallyincreasedresponsivenesswithinregionsimplicatedinselfreferentialandemotionalprocessingtoapproachinganimatethreats AT johannahbashfordlargo sexualabuseinadolescentsisassociatedwithatypicallyincreasedresponsivenesswithinregionsimplicatedinselfreferentialandemotionalprocessingtoapproachinganimatethreats AT nirajshah sexualabuseinadolescentsisassociatedwithatypicallyincreasedresponsivenesswithinregionsimplicatedinselfreferentialandemotionalprocessingtoapproachinganimatethreats AT jennielukoff sexualabuseinadolescentsisassociatedwithatypicallyincreasedresponsivenesswithinregionsimplicatedinselfreferentialandemotionalprocessingtoapproachinganimatethreats AT jaimieelowsky sexualabuseinadolescentsisassociatedwithatypicallyincreasedresponsivenesswithinregionsimplicatedinselfreferentialandemotionalprocessingtoapproachinganimatethreats AT stevenvogel sexualabuseinadolescentsisassociatedwithatypicallyincreasedresponsivenesswithinregionsimplicatedinselfreferentialandemotionalprocessingtoapproachinganimatethreats AT amandaemmert sexualabuseinadolescentsisassociatedwithatypicallyincreasedresponsivenesswithinregionsimplicatedinselfreferentialandemotionalprocessingtoapproachinganimatethreats AT ruzhang sexualabuseinadolescentsisassociatedwithatypicallyincreasedresponsivenesswithinregionsimplicatedinselfreferentialandemotionalprocessingtoapproachinganimatethreats AT matthewdobbertin sexualabuseinadolescentsisassociatedwithatypicallyincreasedresponsivenesswithinregionsimplicatedinselfreferentialandemotionalprocessingtoapproachinganimatethreats AT sethpollak sexualabuseinadolescentsisassociatedwithatypicallyincreasedresponsivenesswithinregionsimplicatedinselfreferentialandemotionalprocessingtoapproachinganimatethreats AT jamesrblair sexualabuseinadolescentsisassociatedwithatypicallyincreasedresponsivenesswithinregionsimplicatedinselfreferentialandemotionalprocessingtoapproachinganimatethreats |
_version_ |
1724741858401189888 |