BJPsych Open · 2015 · 62 citations · 43 references
MedicineNeurosciencePsychologyChild DevelopmentChild PsychiatryDevelopmental PsychopathologyAttachment DisordersNeurodevelopmental DisordersReactive Attachment DisorderReward PathwaysReward ProcessingDopaminergic Synaptic DysfunctionFunctional Magnetic Resonance ImagingMagnetic ResonanceMonetary Reward ProcessingReward Signal ProcessingStriatal Dopamine FunctionStriatal FunctionStriatal Reward Processing
BACKGROUND: Child maltreatment is a major risk factor for psychopathology, including reactive attachment disorder (RAD). AIMS: To examine whether neural activity during reward processing was altered in children and adolescents with RAD. METHOD: Sixteen children and adolescents with RAD and 20 typically developing (TD) individuals performed tasks with high and low monetary rewards while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS: =0.015, family-wise error-corrected cluster level). Significant negative correlations between bilateral striatal activity and avoidant attachment were observed in the RAD and TD groups. CONCLUSIONS: Striatal neural reward activity in the RAD group was markedly decreased. The present results suggest that dopaminergic dysfunction occurs in the striatum of children and adolescents with RAD, leading towards potential future risks for psychopathology. DECLARATION OF INTEREST: None. COPYRIGHT AND USAGE: © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2015. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.
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