Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Sep;22(5):e12799.
doi: 10.1111/desc.12799. Epub 2019 Feb 20.

Violence and Latin-American preadolescents: A study of social brain function and cortisol levels

Augusto Buchweitz  1   2   3 , Lucas Araújo de Azeredo  1   2 , Breno Sanvicente-Vieira  1   3 , Valentina Metsavaht Cará  1   2 , Nathália Bianchini Esper  1   2 , Ricardo Bernardi Soder  1 , Jaderson Costa da Costa  1   2 , Mirna Wetters Portuguez  1 , Alexandre Rosa Franco  1   4   5 , Rodrigo Grassi-Oliveira  1   2   3
Affiliations

Violence and Latin-American preadolescents: A study of social brain function and cortisol levels

Augusto Buchweitz et al. Dev Sci. 2019 Sep.

Abstract

The present study investigated exposure to violence and its association with brain function and hair cortisol concentrations in Latin-American preadolescents. Self-reported victimization scores (JVQ-R2), brain imaging (fMRI) indices for a social cognition task (the 'eyes test'), and hair cortisol concentrations were investigated, for the first time, in this population. The eyes test is based on two conditions: attributing mental state or sex to pictures of pairs of eyes (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Hill, Raste, & Plumb, 2001). The results showed an association among higher victimization scores and (a) less activation of posterior temporoparietal right-hemisphere areas, in the mental state condition only (including right temporal sulcus and fusiform gyrus); (b) higher functional connectivity indices for the Amygdala and Right Fusiform Gyrus (RFFG) pair of brain regions, also in the mental state condition only; (c) higher hair cortisol concentrations. The results suggest more exposure to violence is associated with significant differences in brain function and connectivity. A putative mechanism of less activation in posterior right-hemisphere regions and of synchronized Amygdala: RFFG time series was identified in the mental state condition only. The results also suggest measurable effects of exposure to violence in hair cortisol concentrations, which contribute to the reliability of self-reported scores by young adolescents. The findings are discussed in light of the effects of exposure to violence on brain function and on social-cognitive development in the adolescent brain. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHcXq7Y9PBk.

Keywords: amygdala; cortisol; fusiform gyrus; preadolescents; superior temporal sulcus; violence.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. ABEP (2016). Critério de classificação econômica Brasil. São Paulo, Brazil: Associação Brasileira de Empresas de Pesquisa - ABEP. Retrieved January 1, 2017, from abep.org
    1. Abramovay, M. (2002). Violência nas escolas. Brasilia: UNESCO.
    1. Adolphs, R. (2001). The neurobiology of social cognition. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 11(2), 231-239. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0959-4388(00)00202-6
    1. Adolphs, R. (2003). Cognitive neuroscience: Cognitive neuroscience of human social behaviour. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 4(3), 165-178. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1056
    1. Aho, N., Gren-Landell, M., & Svedin, C.G. (2016). The Prevalence of potentially victimizing events, poly-victimization, and its association to sociodemographic factors. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 31(4), 620-651. http://doi.org/10.1177/0886260514556105.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources