Neurobiological and behavioral consequences of exposure to childhood traumatic stress and preliminary evidence for sensitive periods in the effect of childhood abuse on regional brain development.

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Brain development is largely guided by genetic factors, but the final form is sculpted by environmental factors and early experience. Exposure to traumatic events such as childhood abuse and neglect, have been associated with alterations in the size or functional activity of a variety of brain regions. We have conducted a voxel-based morphometry (VBM) study in young adults with histories of exposure to repeated episodes of childhood sexual abuse and found that the most significant differences were bilateral reductions in gray matter volume (GMV) in the visual cortex (BA 17, 18). Similarly, we conducted a VBM analysis in young adults exposed to parental verbal aggression, and observed an increase in the left superior temporal gyrus (BA 22). These findings fit with an emerging hypothesis that exposure to early adversity may be associated with alterations in sensory systems that process and convey the adverse sensory experience. Severe abuse during childhood can cause abnormal brain development and have a negative impact later in life.