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Youth’s brains and violence: neurobiological and molecular effects of victimization on attention and theory-of-mind related processes in vulnerable children

Augusto Buchweitz1, 2, 3*, Lucas A. De Azevedo1, 3, Valentina M. Cará1, 3, Nathalia B. Esper1, 3, Breno Sanvicente-Vieira1, 4, Alexandre R. Franco1, 3 and Rodrigo Grassi-Oliveira1, 3, 4
  • 1 Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, BRAINS - Brain Institute of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
  • 2 Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, School of Humanities, Brazil
  • 3 Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, School of Medicine, Brazil
  • 4 Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, School of Health Sciences, Brazil

The Latin America and Caribbean region is home to 8% of the world’s population, yet it is where 31% of all homicides in the world take place. Of the 50 most violent cities in the world, 43 are in Latin America (19 are in Brazil). A study of school violence in six Brazilian cities reported that 84% of students evaluated their school environment as violent; and 70% reported being victims of school violence, including physical violence, social discrimination and exclusion, among other violent behaviors (Waiselfisz, 2015). The goal of the present paper is to present a neuroscientific and molecular study of the effects of violence on cognition and education in 9-10 year old Brazilian youths. We present neurobiological, molecular and behavioral evidence of the effects of violence on brain function in children from one of the most violent cities in the world. Methods: The Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ) and chronic cortisol measures from hair samples were used to investigate youth exposure to violence and the sources of violence. Hair samples were collected to investigate chronic levels of cortisol: 3-cm hair samples as measured from the scalp were collected on the day of the fMRI scan; each cm corresponds to one month of life. Two task-related fMRI studies were carried: the Reading the Mind in the Eye's Task (RMET), which tests the ability to infer the state of mind of a person from a picture of a pair of eyes; and a sustained attention task, which tests the ability to maintain accuracy and reaction time over time in a simple reaction task. The study included 50 youths aged 9-10 years. fMRI parameters: Data was collected on a GE HDxT 3.0T MRI scanner with an 8-channel head coil. Three MRI sequences were acquired: a T1 structural scan (TR/TE = 6.16/2.18ms, isotropic 1mm3 voxels); two task-related functional FMRI EPI sequences. The task-related EPI sequences used the following parameters: TR = 2000ms, TE = 30ms, 29 interleaved slices, slice thickness = 3.5mm; slice gap = 0.1mm; matrix size = 64 x 64, FOV = 220 x 220mm, voxel size = 3.44 x 3.44 x 3.60mm. Functional data were preprocessed using AFNI’s (http://afni.nimh.nih.gov/) afni_proc.py program (Cox, 1996). Preprocessing included slice-time and motion correction, smoothing with a 6mm FWHM Gaussian kernel, and a non-linear spatial normalization to 3.0 x 3.0 x 3.0 mm voxel template (HaskinsPedsNL template). Results: Victimization (as measured by the JVQ) positively correlated with cortisol levels at one (p<0.001) and two (p<0.05) months prior to assessment. Brain imaging showed significant deactivation of the right superior temporal gyrus in the RMET task, and of bilateral insular cortex in the sustained attention task in association with higher JVQ scores (p<0.05 corrected for multiple comparisons) (see Figure 1). The results suggest a disengagement of brain networks involved in inferring emotions and self-regulation in association with higher victimization in youths. Conclusion: Learning, as part of human behavior, is a vector that results from the interaction between primitive systems wired for survival and complex systems wired for sophisticated psychological processes. Toxic stress has been associated with leading the brain to remain in high alert, which results in misinterpretation of others' actions as aggressions or threats (Shonkoff et al., 2012; Shonkoff, 2000). The eminence of a perceived threat to physical or mental integrity makes the brain's subcortical structures orchestrate neural and hormonal signals that maintain a level of readiness to do what is necessary to survive (LeDoux, 2012). Consequently, there is less brain power left to learn, to direct attention to learning materials, and to consolidate new information. The present results show an association between victimization and violence with the disengagement of brain networks associated with inferring the state of mind of others and with self-regulation. These cognitive processes are discussed in the light of their relevance for the success of learning. We propose a bridge between the investigation of molecular and neurobiological indices and targeted educational interventions in the form of establishing neurobiological and molecular indices for the assessment of the effectiveness of intervention practices that aim to mitigate the effects of violence on education.

Figure 1
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Acknowledgements

This research was made possible by the Interamerican Development Bank BR-T1322.

References

LeDoux, J. (2012). Rethinking the Emotional Brain. Neuron, 73(4), 653–676. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627312001298

Shonkoff, J. P., & Families, B. on C. Y. and. (2000). From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development. National Academies Press. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/From-Neurons-Neighborhoods-Development-ebook/dp/B002U58ATQ

Shonkoff, J. P., Garner, a. S., Siegel, B. S., Dobbins, M. I., Earls, M. F., Garner, a. S., … Wood, D. L. (2012). The Lifelong Effects of Early Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress. Pediatrics, 129(1), e232–e246. doi:10.1542/peds.2011-2663

Waiselfisz, J. J. (2015). Mapa da violência. Mapa da Violência: http://www. mapadaviolencia. org. br. Recife. doi:10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004

Keywords: Learning, Attention, Theory of Mind, Violence, fMRI

Conference: 3rd International Conference on Educational Neuroscience, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 11 Mar - 12 Mar, 2018.

Presentation Type: Oral Presentation (invited speakers only)

Topic: Educational Neuroscience

Citation: Buchweitz A, De Azevedo LA, Cará VM, Esper NB, Sanvicente-Vieira B, Franco AR and Grassi-Oliveira R (2018). Youth’s brains and violence: neurobiological and molecular effects of victimization on attention and theory-of-mind related processes in vulnerable children. Conference Abstract: 3rd International Conference on Educational Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.225.00003

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Received: 23 Feb 2018; Published Online: 14 Dec 2018.

* Correspondence: Dr. Augusto Buchweitz, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, BRAINS - Brain Institute of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, 91410-000, Brazil, augusto.buchweitz@uconn.edu