Implicit neural sensitivity for negatively valued social and non-social visual scenes in young adults exposed to childhood adversity.

Abstract

Background: Based on facial expression experiments, childhood adversity may be associated with threat-related information processing bias. Yet, it is unclear whether this generalizes to other threat-related stimuli, such as social and non-social visual scenes.

Methods: We combined fast periodic visual stimulation with frequency-tagging electroencephalography (EEG) and eye-tracking to assess automatic and implicit neural discrimination, neural salience and preferential looking towards negative versus neutral social and non-social visual scenes in young adults aged 16-24 years (51 with childhood adversity and psychiatric symptoms and 43 controls).

Results: Controls showed enhanced negative-neutral neural discrimination within a social versus non-social context. However, this facilitating effect of social content was absent in those with adversity, suggesting a selective alteration in social threat processing. Moreover, individual differences in adversity severity, and more specifically threat experiences (but not neglect experiences), were associated with decreased neural discrimination of negative versus neutral social scenes, corresponding to similar findings in facial expression processing, indicating the robustness of adversity-related deficits in threat-safety discrimination across social visual stimuli.

Conclusions: The adversity-related decreased threat-safety discrimination might impact individuals' perception of social cues in daily life and relate to poor social functioning and future development of psychopathology.