Unique infant neurobiology produces distinctive trauma processing

Abstract

Trauma experienced in early life has unique neurobehavioral outcomes related to later life psychiatric sequelae. Recent evidence has further highlighted the context of infant trauma as critical, with trauma experienced within species-atypical aberrations in caregiving quality as particularly detrimental. Using data from primarily rodent models, we review the literature on the interaction between trauma and attachment in early life, which highlights the role of the caregiver’s presence in engagement of attachment brain circuitry and suppressing threat processing by the amygdala. Together these data suggest that infant trauma processing and its enduring effects are impacted by both the immaturity of brain areas for processing trauma and the unique functioning of the early-life brain, which is biased towards forming robust attachments regardless of the quality of care. Understanding the critical role of the caregiver in further altering early life brain processing of trauma is important for developing age-relevant treatment and interventions. Keywords: Trauma, Attachment, Amygdala, Development, Stress, Sensitive period