Effects of early maternal care on adolescent attention bias to threat in nonhuman primates

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Elyse L. Morin, erkes National Primate Research Center; Brittany R. Howell, erkes National Primate Research Center; Jerrold S. Meyer, University of Massachusetts; Maria Sanchez, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2019-08-01
• Publisher: Elsevier Science Ltd.
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2019 The Authors.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100643
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
• Volume: 38
• Start Page: 100643
• End Page: 100643
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by funding from NIH/NIDA grant DA038588 and NIH/NIMH grant MH078105, as well as in part by the YNPRC grant No. ORIP/OD P51OD011132 (YNPRC Base grant; the YNPRC is supported by the NIH, Office of Research Infrastructure Programs/OD [P51OD011132]).
• Keywords: Long-term consequences; Maltreated children; Early life stress; Early-life stress; Science & Technology; Psychology; Information-processing bias; Selective attention; Prenatal stress; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Rhesus monkey; Early adverse experience; Psychology, Developmental; Neurosciences & Neurology; Infant abuse; Emotional valence; Neurosciences; Social Sciences; Attention bias; Dot-probe task
• Research Categories: Psychology, Psychobiology; Psychology, Behavioral; Psychology, Developmental

Abstract

Attention bias towards threat using dot-probe tasks has mainly been reported in adults with stress-related disorders such as PTSD and other anxiety disorders, in some cases associated with early life stress or traumatic experiences. Studies during adolescence are scarce and inconsistent, which highlights the need to increase our understanding of the developmental processes that predict attentional biases, given that this is a time of emergence of psychopathology. Here, we use a translational nonhuman primate model of early life stress in the form of infant maltreatment to examine its long-term impact on attentional biases during adolescence using the dot-probe task and identify interactions with early life risk factors, such as prenatal exposure to stress hormones and emotional/stress reactivity during infancy. Maltreated animals showed higher reaction times to social threat than animals that experienced competent maternal care, suggesting interference of negative valence stimuli on attentional control and cognitive processes. Higher emotional reactivity during infancy in Maltreated animals predicted attention bias towards threat, whereas higher levels of prenatal cortisol exposure was associated with bias away (avoidance of) threat in maltreated and control groups. Our findings suggest that different postnatal experiences and early biobehavioral mechanisms regulate the development of emotional attention biases during adolescence.