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. 2015 May;56(5):540-8.
doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12317. Epub 2014 Aug 23.

Insecure attachment during infancy predicts greater amygdala volumes in early adulthood

Christina Moutsiana  1 , Tom Johnstone, Lynne Murray, Pasco Fearon, Peter J Cooper, Christos Pliatsikas, Ian Goodyer, Sarah L Halligan
Affiliations

Insecure attachment during infancy predicts greater amygdala volumes in early adulthood

Christina Moutsiana et al. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2015 May.

Erratum in

  • Erratum.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2015 Oct;56(10):1137. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12453. Epub 2015 Jul 31. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2015. PMID: 26381617 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Background: The quality of the early environment is hypothesized to be an influence on morphological development in key neural areas related to affective responding, but direct evidence to support this possibility is limited. In a 22-year longitudinal study, we examined hippocampal and amygdala volumes in adulthood in relation to early infant attachment status, an important indicator of the quality of the early caregiving environment.

Methods: Participants (N = 59) were derived from a prospective longitudinal study of the impact of maternal postnatal depression on child development. Infant attachment status (35 Secure; 24 Insecure) was observed at 18 months of age, and MRI assessments were completed at 22 years [corrected].

Results: In line with hypotheses, insecure versus secure infant attachment status was associated with larger amygdala volumes in young adults, an effect that was not accounted for by maternal depression history. We did not find early infant attachment status to predict hippocampal volumes.

Conclusions: Common variations in the quality of early environment are associated with gross alterations in amygdala morphology in the adult brain. Further research is required to establish the neural changes that underpin the volumetric differences reported here, and any functional implications.

Keywords: Attachment; amygdala; brain development; longitudinal; maternal depression.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Hippocampal and Amygdala volumes in the secure and insecure attachment groups. Panel A: bilateral volumes are plotted with correction for total intracranial volume using regression analysis; actual values are regression residuals. Panel B: estimated marginal means (with standard errors) for left and right hippocampal and amygdala volumes, corrected for total intracranial volume. In univariate tests secure versus insecure attachment group hippocampal volumes were not significantly different for either right (insecure M = 4,065 mm3, SD = 468; secure M = 3,925, SD = 385; F1,55 = 0.77, p = .39) or left hemisphere (insecure M = 4,059 mm3, SD = 509; secure M = 3,885, SD = 376; F1,55=0.77, p = .39). For amygdala volumes univariate tests indicated significant group differences for right (insecure M = 1,544 mm3, SD = 288; secure M = 1,362, SD = 266; F1,55=5.07, p = .028), but not left hemisphere (insecure M = 1,389 mm3, SD = 175; secure M = 1,327, SD = 204; F1,55 = 0.77, p = .39)
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