Exposure to violence is associated with decreased neural connectivity in emotion regulation and cognitive control, but not working memory, networks after accounting for socioeconomic status: a preliminary study

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated behavioral and neural differences associated with experiencing adversity. However, adversity is unlikely to be a monolithic construct, and we expect that examining effects of more specific components such as exposure to violence in the home community will yield more concretely interpretable results. Here we account for effects of low socioeconomic status (SES) to examine the specific effects of exposure to violence on functional connectivity between brain areas known to be related to emotion regulation and working memory. Decreased resting state functional connectivity for individuals exposed to high compared to low levels of violence during childhood was predicted for two sets of areas: (1) bilateral amygdala with anterior medial regions involved in cognitive control of emotion, and (2) the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) with frontal and parietal regions implicated in working memory. Consistent with our predictions, increasing exposure to violence was related to decreased resting state functional connectivity between the right amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex, even after accounting for SES. Also after accounting for SES, exposure to violence was related to reductions in connectivity between the right dlPFC and frontal regions, but not with parietal regions typically associated with working memory. Overall, this pattern suggests increased exposure to violence in childhood is associated with reduced connectivity among key areas of the circuitry involved in emotion regulation and cognitive control, but not working memory. These results offer insight into the neural underpinnings of behavioral outcomes associated with exposure to violence, laying the foundation for ultimately designing interventions to address the effects of such exposure.

Perceived Self-Regulation and Violence Tendency: Psychological Implications in Turkey

“…This emphasizes the importance of developing self-regulation and emotion management skills in increasing life satisfaction. Meanwhile, the relationship between violent tendencies and perceived selfregulation shows the importance of dealing with problems of aggressive or violent behaviour to improve individuals' ability to manage themselves (Mattheiss et al, 2022;Mwania, 2023). While these results are interesting, remember that correlation does not imply causation.…”

La violencia como producto cultural: exposición a la violencia y sus incidencias culturales y neurobiológicas

“…Al mismo tiempo, se podría postular que crecer en un ambiente inseguro lleva al cerebro a adaptarse funcionalmente a esta situación de una manera que promueve la supervivencia, donde los costos o consecuencias a largo plazo de estas adaptaciones son en gran medida desconocidos y un área para futuras investigaciones (van Rooij et al, 2020). De tal manera que una mayor exposición a la violencia en la infancia se asocia con una conectividad reducida entre áreas clave de los circuitos involucrados en la regulación de las emociones y el control cognitivo, pero no con la memoria de trabajo (Mattheiss et al, 2022). Nota.…”