A Family Focused Intervention Influences Hippocampal-Prefrontal Connectivity Through Gains in Self-Regulation

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Jamie L. Hanson, University of Pittsburgh; Alysha D. Gillmore, University of Pittsburgh; Tianyi Yu, University of Georgia; Christopher J. Holmes, University of Georgia; Emily S. Hallowell, University of Georgia; Allen W. Barton, University of Georgia; Steven R.H. Beach, University of Georgia; Adrianna Galvan, University of California Los Angeles; James MacKillop, McMaster University; Michael Windle, Emory University; Edith Chen, Northwestern University; Gregory E. Miller, Northwestern University; Lawrence H. Sweet, University of Georgia; Gene Brody, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2019-07-01
• Publisher: Wiley: 12 months
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2018 The Authors.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13154
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Child Development
• ISSN: 0009-3920
• Volume: 90
• Issue: 4
• Start Page: 1389
• End Page: 1401
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse Grants P30‐DA027827 (to Gene H. Brody).
• Keywords: SOCIOECONOMIC-STATUS; BRAIN STRUCTURE; CHILDRENS; CHILDHOOD POVERTY; STRESS; ORBITOFRONTAL CORTEX; EFFORTFUL CONTROL; Psychology, Developmental; Social Sciences; ADVERSITY; PROGRAM; BEHAVIORAL-PROBLEMS; Psychology; Psychology, Educational
• Research Categories: Psychology, Cognitive

Abstract

Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development. The stressors associated with poverty increase the risks for externalizing psychopathology; however, specific patterns of neurobiology and higher self-regulation may buffer against these effects. This study leveraged a randomized control trial, aimed at increasing self-regulation at ~11 years of age. As adults, these same individuals completed functional MRI scanning (Mage = 24.88 years; intervention n = 44; control n = 49). Functional connectivity between the hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex was examined in relation to the intervention, gains in self-regulation, and present-day externalizing symptoms. Increased connectivity between these brain areas was noted in the intervention group compared to controls. Furthermore, individual gains in self-regulation, instilled by the intervention, statistically explained this brain difference. These results begin to connect neurobiological and psychosocial markers of risk and resiliency.