The impact of early-life adversity on individuals and their descendants

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This project aims to determine how early-life stress affects emotional, social, cognitive, and neural processes not only in those directly exposed to such adversity but also in subsequent generations that were only indirectly exposed through their parent's experiences. Past research shows that the adverse effects of early-life stress are pervasive, affecting cognitive, social, and emotional behaviours as well as the body and the brain. The project intends to test the acceleration hypothesis that early-life stress speeds up maturation, especially for behavioural/neural systems involved in fear. Expected outcomes include insights into the mechanisms leading to adult dysfunction. Intended benefits of these insights include the development of effective treatments that can be given early in life.