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

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. Keywords: Rhesus monkey, Early life stress, Attention bias