Abstrakt

A review of neuroimaging studies of child maltreatment.

Heledd Hart

 Maltreatment of children is a stressor that can alter brain structure and function and cause the emergence of behavioural issues. The current body of research on how childhood abuse affects behaviour, cognition, and the brain in both adults and children is summarised in this overview. According to neuropsychological research, child maltreatment is linked to deficiencies in intelligence, memory, working memory, attention, response inhibition, and emotion recognition. Studies on structural neuroimaging show that various brain regions, most notably the hippocampus, amygdala, and corpus callosum, as well as the dorsolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, have reduced brain volume, grey matter, and white matter. Studies using diffusion tensor imaging provide evidence of structural interregional connection impairments between these regions, pointing to anomalies in the brain networks. Studies on functional imaging provide proof for this claim by describing unusual.