Subtile Gehirnveränderungen bei Kindern, die einem Trauma ausgesetzt waren, auch ohne Verhaltenssymptome. Kinder in der Gruppe mit hohem Trauma zeigten eine verringerte Amplitude der Gehirnreaktionen in Regionen der Exekutivfunktionen. Männer zeigten in bestimmten Regionen verzögerte Reaktionen, während Frauen während der Aufgabe schnellere Reaktionszeiten zeigten.

I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0028393225001988

From the linked article:

**Subtle brain changes found in children exposed to trauma, even without behavioral symptoms**

Children who experience traumatic events may show subtle but measurable differences in how their brains process attention and control impulses, according to a new study published in Neuropsychologia. The research found that youths with higher exposure to non-abuse-related trauma exhibited distinct patterns of brain activity while performing tasks that require sustained attention and inhibition. These neural differences also varied by sex.

**Children in the high-trauma group showed reduced amplitude of brain responses in several executive function regions**, particularly in the ventral anterior cingulate cortex during Go trials and the superior parietal cortex during incorrect No-Go trials. This suggests that trauma-exposed children may allocate less neural resources when engaging in attention and inhibition tasks, even when they are trying to perform correctly.

The researchers also found differences in the timing of neural responses. During early sensory processing, children with higher trauma exposure showed faster response latencies in the precentral cortex.

While this might seem beneficial, the researchers interpret it as possible evidence of hypervigilance or heightened reactivity, a feature commonly associated with stress-related conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder. These faster responses may reflect a brain that is primed to detect threats quickly, which could become problematic over time if it interferes with accurate decision-making or impulse control.

Additional analyses revealed that trauma-related changes in brain activity varied by sex. For example, boys and girls in the high-trauma group both showed reduced amplitude in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, but the patterns of response timing differed. **Males in the high-trauma group exhibited delayed responses in certain regions, while females generally showed faster reaction times during the task**. These findings support the idea that trauma may affect males and females differently at the neural level, even if behavioral performance appears similar on the surface.