Social scaffolding of human amygdala-mPFCcircuit development

Abstract

Strong evidence indicates that reciprocal connections between the amygdala and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) support fundamental aspects of emotional behavior in adulthood. However, this circuitry is slow to develop in humans, exhibiting immaturity in childhood. The argument is made that the development of this circuitry in humans is intimately associated with caregiving, such that parental availability during childhood provides important and enduring scaffolding of neuroaffective processes that ultimately form of the nature of the adult phenotype.

Keywords:

• Amygdala
• Child development
• Sensitive periods
• Parents
• Emotion

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the NIMH under grant R01MH091864 (N. Tottenham, PI), an NSF Conference Grant BCS-1439258 (N. Tottenham, co-I), and the Dana Foundation (N. Tottenham, PI). The content is solely the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, or the Dana Foundation.