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Childhood Trauma is Associated with Altered Cortical Arousal: Insights from an EEG Study

Background: Childhood trauma is associated with psychiatric disorders, yet the underlying psychobiological mechanisms that account for this link are not well understood. Alterations in cortical arousal may, however, play a key role in mediating this association. We hypothesized that childhood trauma...

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Autores principales: Howells, Fleur Margaret, Stein, Dan J., Russell, Vivienne A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3529303/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23269916
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2012.00120
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author Howells, Fleur Margaret
Stein, Dan J.
Russell, Vivienne A.
author_facet Howells, Fleur Margaret
Stein, Dan J.
Russell, Vivienne A.
author_sort Howells, Fleur Margaret
collection PubMed
description Background: Childhood trauma is associated with psychiatric disorders, yet the underlying psychobiological mechanisms that account for this link are not well understood. Alterations in cortical arousal may, however, play a key role in mediating this association. We hypothesized that childhood trauma would be associated with alterations in arousal during a task that required sustained attention and behavioral inhibition. Materials and Methods: Fifty-three healthy adults completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire which assesses physical neglect, emotional neglect, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and denial of childhood trauma. These individuals underwent cortical (electroencephalography) and peripheral (heart rate, skin conductance responses, and salivary cortisol) physiological recordings at rest (eyes open and eyes closed) and during performance of a visual go/no-go (GNG) task. Associations between reported childhood trauma and physiological measures were determined. Results: Physical and emotional neglect were correlated with decreased left parietal tonic α band power during resting conditions and during the GNG task. Emotional abuse was correlated with decreased right frontal α band power during rest, increased θ band power during the GNG task, and cortisol at the end of the testing session. Physical and sexual abuse were correlated with delayed P300 latency and enhanced P300 amplitude during the no-go conditions of the GNG task. The denial scale was correlated with a decrease in θ and increase in α band power during the no-go conditions of the GNG task. Conclusion: The present study provides evidence that childhood trauma is associated with altered cortical arousal and that the pattern of this association is dependent on the form of childhood trauma experienced.
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spelling pubmed-35293032012-12-26 Childhood Trauma is Associated with Altered Cortical Arousal: Insights from an EEG Study Howells, Fleur Margaret Stein, Dan J. Russell, Vivienne A. Front Integr Neurosci Neuroscience Background: Childhood trauma is associated with psychiatric disorders, yet the underlying psychobiological mechanisms that account for this link are not well understood. Alterations in cortical arousal may, however, play a key role in mediating this association. We hypothesized that childhood trauma would be associated with alterations in arousal during a task that required sustained attention and behavioral inhibition. Materials and Methods: Fifty-three healthy adults completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire which assesses physical neglect, emotional neglect, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and denial of childhood trauma. These individuals underwent cortical (electroencephalography) and peripheral (heart rate, skin conductance responses, and salivary cortisol) physiological recordings at rest (eyes open and eyes closed) and during performance of a visual go/no-go (GNG) task. Associations between reported childhood trauma and physiological measures were determined. Results: Physical and emotional neglect were correlated with decreased left parietal tonic α band power during resting conditions and during the GNG task. Emotional abuse was correlated with decreased right frontal α band power during rest, increased θ band power during the GNG task, and cortisol at the end of the testing session. Physical and sexual abuse were correlated with delayed P300 latency and enhanced P300 amplitude during the no-go conditions of the GNG task. The denial scale was correlated with a decrease in θ and increase in α band power during the no-go conditions of the GNG task. Conclusion: The present study provides evidence that childhood trauma is associated with altered cortical arousal and that the pattern of this association is dependent on the form of childhood trauma experienced. Frontiers Media S.A. 2012-12-24 /pmc/articles/PMC3529303/ /pubmed/23269916 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2012.00120 Text en Copyright © 2012 Howells, Stein and Russell. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited and subject to any copyright notices concerning any third-party graphics etc.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Howells, Fleur Margaret
Stein, Dan J.
Russell, Vivienne A.
Childhood Trauma is Associated with Altered Cortical Arousal: Insights from an EEG Study
title Childhood Trauma is Associated with Altered Cortical Arousal: Insights from an EEG Study
title_full Childhood Trauma is Associated with Altered Cortical Arousal: Insights from an EEG Study
title_fullStr Childhood Trauma is Associated with Altered Cortical Arousal: Insights from an EEG Study
title_full_unstemmed Childhood Trauma is Associated with Altered Cortical Arousal: Insights from an EEG Study
title_short Childhood Trauma is Associated with Altered Cortical Arousal: Insights from an EEG Study
title_sort childhood trauma is associated with altered cortical arousal: insights from an eeg study
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3529303/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23269916
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2012.00120
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