NeuroImage (Nov 2020)
Brain structure and habitat: Do the brains of our children tell us where they have been brought up?
- Simone Kühn,
- Tobias Banaschewski,
- Arun L.W. Bokde,
- Christian Büchel,
- Erin Burke Quinlan,
- Sylvane Desrivières,
- Herta Flor,
- Antoine Grigis,
- Hugh Garavan,
- Penny Gowland,
- Andreas Heinz,
- Bernd Ittermann,
- Jean-Luc Martinot,
- Marie Laure Paillère Martinot,
- Frauke Nees,
- Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos,
- Tomáš Paus,
- Luise Poustka,
- Sabina Millenet,
- Juliane H. Fröhner,
- Michael N. Smolka,
- Henrik Walter,
- Robert Whelan,
- Gunter Schumann,
- Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg,
- Jürgen Gallinat
Affiliations
- Simone Kühn
- Lise Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany; University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy W37, Martinistrasse 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany; Corresponding author: Simone Kühn, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallee, 94, 14195 Berlin. Abstract
- Tobias Banaschewski
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
- Arun L.W. Bokde
- Discipline of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin
- Christian Büchel
- University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, House W34, 3.OG, Martinistr. 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany
- Erin Burke Quinlan
- Medical Research Council - Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, United Kingdom
- Sylvane Desrivières
- Medical Research Council - Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, United Kingdom
- Herta Flor
- Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, Mannheim, Germany; Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, 68131 Mannheim, Germany
- Antoine Grigis
- NeuroSpin, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Hugh Garavan
- Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States
- Penny Gowland
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, United Kingdom
- Andreas Heinz
- Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, Berlin, Germany or Depending on journal requirements can be Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Department of Psychiatry NL Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, Berlin, Germany
- Bernd Ittermann
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig and Berlin, Germany [or depending on journal requirements can be: Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Abbestr. 2 - 12, Berlin, Germany
- Jean-Luc Martinot
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM Unit 1000 “Neuroimaging & Psychiatry”, University Paris Saclay, University Paris Descartes – Sorbonne Paris Cité, and Maison de Solenn, Paris, France
- Marie Laure Paillère Martinot
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM Unit 1000 “Neuroimaging & Psychiatry”, University Paris Saclay, University Paris Descartes; and AP-HP.Sorbonne Université, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
- Frauke Nees
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany; Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, 68131 Mannheim, Germany
- Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos
- NeuroSpin, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Tomáš Paus
- Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M6A 2E1, Abbreviation:
- Luise Poustka
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Göttingen, von-Siebold-Str. 5, 37075, Göttingen, Germany
- Sabina Millenet
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
- Juliane H. Fröhner
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuroimaging Center, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Michael N. Smolka
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuroimaging Center, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Henrik Walter
- Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, Berlin, Germany or Depending on journal requirements can be Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Department of Psychiatry NL Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, Berlin, Germany
- Robert Whelan
- School of Psychology and Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
- Gunter Schumann
- Medical Research Council - Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, United Kingdom
- Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg
- Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, Mannheim, Germany
- Jürgen Gallinat
- Lise Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 222
p. 117225
Abstract
Recently many lifestyle factors have been shown to be associated with brain structural alterations. At present we are facing increasing population shifts from rural to urban areas, which considerably change the living environments of human beings. To investigate the association between rural vs. urban upbringing and brain structure we selected 106 14-year old adolescents of whom half were exclusively raised in rural areas and the other half who exclusively lived in cities. Voxel-based morphometry revealed a group difference in left hippocampal formation (Rural > City), which was positively associated with cognitive performance in a spatial processing task. Moreover, significant group differences were observed in spatial processing (Rural > City). A mediation analysis revealed that hippocampal formation accounted for more than half of the association between upbringing and spatial processing. The results are compatible with studies reporting earlier and more intense opportunities for spatial exploration in children brought up in rural areas. The results are interesting in the light of urban planning where spaces enabling spatial exploration for children may deserve more attention.
