Skip to main content
Log in

Early-life stress and cognitive outcome

  • Review
  • Published:
Psychopharmacology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Rationale

Early-life stress is associated with later neuropsychiatric illness. While the association between early-life stress and brain development is well recognized, relatively few studies have examined the association between exposure to early-life stress and cognitive outcome.

Objectives

The objective of this paper is to examine the association between early-life stress and cognitive outcome in animal models and humans.

Methods

In this article, we review alterations in cognitive function associated with early-life stress in animals and then discuss the association of early-life stress and cognitive function in humans.

Results

Findings suggest that early-life stress is associated with abnormal cognitive function in animals and humans. Furthermore, cognitive deficits associated with exposure to early-life stress in humans may persist into at least early adulthood, although animal models of enriched environments and studies of children adopted from institutionalized care into foster families suggest that certain social factors may at least partially reverse cognitive deficits following exposure to early-life stress.

Conclusions

Exposure to stress in early life may be associated with later deficits in cognitive function.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahlgren M, Melbye M, Wohlfahrt J, Sorensen TI (2004) Growth patterns and the risk of breast cancer in women. N Engl J Med 351:1619–1626

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Aisa B, Tordera R, Lasheras B, Del Rio J, Ramirez MJ (2007) Cognitive impairment associated to HPA axis hyperactivity after maternal separation in rats. Psychoneuroendocrinology 32:256–266

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Aisa B, Elizalde N, Tordera R, Lasheras B, Del Rio J, Ramirez MJ (2009a) Effects of neonatal stress on markers of synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus: implications for spatial memory. Hippocampus 19:1222–1231

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Aisa B, Gil-Bea FJ, Marcos B, Tordera R, Lasheras B, Del Rio J, Ramirez MJ (2009b) Neonatal stress affects vulnerability of cholinergic neurons and cognition in the rat: involvement of the HPA axis. Psychoneuroendocrinology 34:1495–1505

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association (2000) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (text revision), 4th edn. American Psychiatric Association, Washington, DC

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ammerman RT, Cassisi JE, Hersen M, van Hasselt V (1986) Consequences of physical abuse and neglect in children. Clin Psychol Rev 6:291–310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen SL, Teicher MH (2004) Delayed effects of early stress on hippocampal development. Neuropsychopharmacology 29:1988–1993

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen SL, Tomada A, Vincow ES, Valente E, Polcari A, Teicher MH (2008) Preliminary evidence for sensitive periods in the effect of childhood sexual abuse on regional brain development. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 20:292–301

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barker DJ (1995) Fetal origins of coronary heart disease. BMJ 311:171–174

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barnes J, Bartlett JW, van de Pol LA, Loy CT, Scahill RI, Frost C, Thompson P, Fox NC (2009) A meta-analysis of hippocampal atrophy rates in Alzheimer’s disease. Neurobiol Aging 30:1711–1723

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barr CS, Newman TK, Becker ML, Parker CC, Champoux M, Lesch KP, Goldman D, Suomi SJ, Higley JD (2003) The utility of the non-human primate; model for studying gene by environment interactions in behavioral research. Genes Brain Behav 2:336–340

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bazak N, Kozlovsky N, Kaplan Z, Matar M, Golan H, Zohar J, Richter-Levin G, Cohen H (2009) Pre-pubertal stress exposure affects adult behavioral response in association with changes in circulating corticosterone and brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Psychoneuroendocrinology 34:844–858

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Beckett LA, Harvey DJ, Gamst A, Donohue M, Kornak J, Zhang H, Kuo JH (2010) The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative: Annual change in biomarkers and clinical outcomes. Alzheimers Dement 6:257–264

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beers SR, De Bellis MD (2002) Neuropsychological function in children with maltreatment-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Am J Psychiatry 159:483–486

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bergman K, Sarkar P, O’Connor TG, Modi N, Glover V (2007) Maternal stress during pregnancy predicts cognitive ability and fearfulness in infancy. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 46:1454–1463

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blaise JH, Koranda JL, Chow U, Haines KE, Dorward EC (2008) Neonatal isolation stress alters bidirectional long-term synaptic plasticity in amygdalo-hippocampal synapses in freely behaving adult rats. Brain Res 1193:25–33

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Braun K, Lange E, Metzger M, Poeggel G (2000) Maternal separation followed by early social deprivation affects the development of monoaminergic fiber systems in the medial prefrontal cortex of Octodon degus. Neuroscience 95:309–318

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bredy TW, Grant RJ, Champagne DL, Meaney MJ (2003a) Maternal care influences neuronal survival in the hippocampus of the rat. Eur J Neurosci 18:2903–2909

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bredy TW, Humpartzoomian RA, Cain DP, Meaney MJ (2003b) Partial reversal of the effect of maternal care on cognitive function through environmental enrichment. Neuroscience 118:571–576

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bredy TW, Zhang TY, Grant RJ, Diorio J, Meaney MJ (2004) Peripubertal environmental enrichment reverses the effects of maternal care on hippocampal development and glutamate receptor subunit expression. Eur J Neurosci 20:1355–1362

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bremner JD (2002) Neuroimaging of childhood trauma. Semin Clin Neuropsychiatry 7:104–112

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bremner JD (2006) The relationship between cognitive and brain changes in posttraumatic stress disorder. Ann NY Acad Sci 1071:80–86

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bremner JD, Randall P, Scott TM, Capelli S, Delaney R, McCarthy G, Charney DS (1995) Deficits in short-term memory in adult survivors of childhood abuse. Psychiatry Res 59:97–107

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bremner JD, Randall P, Vermetten E, Staib L, Bronen RA, Mazure C, Capelli S, McCarthy G, Innis RB, Charney DS (1997) Magnetic resonance imaging-based measurement of hippocampal volume in posttraumatic stress disorder related to childhood physical and sexual abuse—a preliminary report. Biol Psychiatry 41:23–32

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bremner JD, Narayan M, Staib LH, Southwick SM, McGlashan T, Charney DS (1999) Neural correlates of memories of childhood sexual abuse in women with and without posttraumatic stress disorder. Am J Psychiatry 156:1787–1795

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bremner JD, Vythilingam M, Vermetten E, Southwick SM, McGlashan T, Staib LH, Soufer R, Charney DS (2003) Neural correlates of declarative memory for emotionally valenced words in women with posttraumatic stress disorder related to early childhood sexual abuse. Biol Psychiatry 53:879–889

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bremner JD, Vermetten E, Afzal N, Vythilingam M (2004) Deficits in verbal declarative memory function in women with childhood sexual abuse-related posttraumatic stress disorder. J Nerv Ment Dis 192:643–649

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brunson KL, Kramar E, Lin B, Chen Y, Colgin LL, Yanagihara TK, Lynch G, Baram TZ (2005) Mechanisms of late-onset cognitive decline after early-life stress. J Neurosci 25:9328–9338

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Buitelaar JK, Huizink AC, Mulder EJ, de Medina PG, Visser GH (2003) Prenatal stress and cognitive development and temperament in infants. Neurobiol Aging 24(Suppl 1):S53–S60

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Buss C, Lord C, Wadiwalla M, Hellhammer DH, Lupien SJ, Meaney MJ, Pruessner JC (2007) Maternal care modulates the relationship between prenatal risk and hippocampal volume in women but not in men. J Neurosci 27:2592–2595

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carrey NJ, Butter HJ, Persinger MA, Bialik RJ (1995) Physiological and cognitive correlates of child abuse. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 34:1067–1075

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carrion VG, Weems CF, Eliez S, Patwardhan A, Brown W, Ray RD, Reiss AL (2001) Attenuation of frontal asymmetry in pediatric posttraumatic stress disorder. Biol Psychiatry 50:943–951

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Champoux M, Bennett A, Shannon C, Higley JD, Lesch KP, Suomi SJ (2002) Serotonin transporter gene polymorphism, differential early rearing, and behavior in rhesus monkey neonates. Mol Psychiatry 7:1058–1063

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chugani HT, Behen ME, Muzik O, Juhasz C, Nagy F, Chugani DC (2001) Local brain functional activity following early deprivation: a study of postinstitutionalized Romanian orphans. Neuroimage 14:1290–1301

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Coe CL, Kramer M, Czeh B, Gould E, Reeves AJ, Kirschbaum C, Fuchs E (2003) Prenatal stress diminishes neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of juvenile rhesus monkeys. Biol Psychiatry 54:1025–1034

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Coffino B (2009) The role of childhood parent figure loss in the etiology of adult depression: findings from a prospective longitudinal study. Attach Hum Dev 11:445–470

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen NJ, Lojkasek M, Zadeh ZY, Pugliese M, Kiefer H (2008) Children adopted from China: a prospective study of their growth and development. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 49:458–468

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Bellis MD, Keshavan MS, Spencer S, Hall J (2000) N-Acetylaspartate concentration in the anterior cingulate of maltreated children and adolescents with PTSD. Am J Psychiatry 157:1175–1177

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Bellis MD, Hooper SR, Spratt EG, Woolley DP (2009a) Neuropsychological findings in childhood neglect and their relationships to pediatric PTSD. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 15:868–878

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Bellis MD, Hooper SR, Woolley DP, Shenk CE (2009b) Demographic, maltreatment, and neurobiological correlates of PTSD symptoms in children and adolescents. J Pediatr Psychol 35:570–577

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • den Heijer T, van der Lijn F, Koudstaal PJ, Hofman A, van der Lugt A, Krestin GP, Niessen WJ, Breteler MM (2010) A 10-year follow-up of hippocampal volume on magnetic resonance imaging in early dementia and cognitive decline. Brain 133:1163–1172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards VJ, Holden GW, Felitti VJ, Anda RF (2003) Relationship between multiple forms of childhood maltreatment and adult mental health in community respondents: results from the adverse childhood experiences study. Am J Psychiatry 160:1453–1460

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eichenbaum H, Otto T, Cohen NJ (1992) The hippocampus—what does it do? Behav Neural Biol 57:2–36

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eisen ML, Goodman GS, Qin J, Davis S, Crayton J (2007) Maltreated children’s memory: accuracy, suggestibility, and psychopathology. Dev Psychol 43:1275–1294

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Entringer S, Buss C, Kumsta R, Hellhammer DH, Wadhwa PD, Wust S (2009) Prenatal psychosocial stress exposure is associated with subsequent working memory performance in young women. Behav Neurosci 123:886–893

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Falkenberg T, Mohammed AK, Henriksson B, Persson H, Winblad B, Lindefors N (1992) Increased expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor mRNA in rat hippocampus is associated with improved spatial memory and enriched environment. Neurosci Lett 138:153–156

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fishbein D, Warner T, Krebs C, Trevarthen N, Flannery B, Hammond J (2009) Differential relationships between personal and community stressors and children’s neurocognitive functioning. Child Maltreat 14:299–315

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert R, Widom CS, Browne K, Fergusson D, Webb E, Janson S (2009) Burden and consequences of child maltreatment in high-income countries. Lancet 373:68–81

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Green JG, McLaughlin KA, Berglund PA, Gruber MJ, Sampson NA, Zaslavsky AM, Kessler RC (2010) Childhood adversities and adult psychiatric disorders in the national comorbidity survey replication I: associations with first onset of DSM-IV disorders. Arch Gen Psychiatry 67:113–123

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harding JE (2001) The nutritional basis of the fetal origins of adult disease. Int J Epidemiol 30:15–23

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hedges DW, Woon FL (2010) Premorbid brain volume estimates and reduced total brain volume in adults exposed to trauma with or without posttraumatic stress disorder: a meta-analysis. Cogn Behav Neurol 23:124–129

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heim C, Nemeroff CB (2001) The role of childhood trauma in the neurobiology of mood and anxiety disorders: preclinical and clinical studies. Biol Psychiatry 49:1023–1039

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Heim C, Newport DJ, Mletzko T, Miller AH, Nemeroff CB (2008) The link between childhood trauma and depression: insights from HPA axis studies in humans. Psychoneuroendocrinology 33:693–710

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Higley JD, Hasert MF, Suomi SJ, Linnoila M (1991) Nonhuman primate model of alcohol abuse: effects of early experience, personality, and stress on alcohol consumption. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 88:7261–7265

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Higley JD, Suomi SJ, Linnoila M (1996a) A nonhuman primate model of type II alcoholism? Part 2. Diminished social competence and excessive aggression correlates with low cerebrospinal fluid 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid concentrations. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 20:643–650

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Higley JD, Suomi SJ, Linnoila M (1996b) A nonhuman primate model of type II excessive alcohol consumption? Part 1. Low cerebrospinal fluid 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid concentrations and diminished social competence correlate with excessive alcohol consumption. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 20:629–642

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hosseini-Sharifabad M, Hadinedoushan H (2007) Prenatal stress induces learning deficits and is associated with a decrease in granules and CA3 cell dendritic tree size in rat hippocampus. Anat Sci Int 82:211–217

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Huth-Bocks AC, Levendosky AA, Semel MA (2001) The direct and indirect effects of domestic violence on young children’s intellectual functioning. J Fam Violence 16:269–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kajantie E, Raikkonen K (2010) Early life predictors of the physiological stress response later in life. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 35:23–32

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kaufman J, Plotsky PM, Nemeroff CB, Charney DS (2000) Effects of early adverse experiences on brain structure and function: clinical implications. Biol Psychiatry 48:778–790

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kempermann G, Kuhn HG, Gage FH (1997) More hippocampal neurons in adult mice living in an enriched environment. Nature 386:493–495

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kerouac S, Taggart ME, Lescop J, Fortin MF (1986) Dimensions of health in violent families. Health Care Women Int 7:413–426

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koo JW, Park CH, Choi SH, Kim NJ, Kim HS, Choe JC, Suh YH (2003) The postnatal environment can counteract prenatal effects on cognitive ability, cell proliferation, and synaptic protein expression. FASEB J 17:1556–1558

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lezak MD, Howieson DB, Loring DW, Hannay HJ, Fischer JS (2004) Neuropsychological assessment, 4th edn. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Lissau I, Sorensen TI (1994) Parental neglect during childhood and increased risk of obesity in young adulthood. Lancet 343:324–327

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu D, Diorio J, Day JC, Francis DD, Meaney MJ (2000) Maternal care, hippocampal synaptogenesis and cognitive development in rats. Nat Neurosci 3:799–806

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Loman MM, Wiik KL, Frenn KA, Pollak SD, Gunnar MR (2009) Postinstitutionalized children’s development: growth, cognitive, and language outcomes. J Dev Behav Pediatr 30:426–434

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lu L, Bao G, Chen H, Xia P, Fan X, Zhang J, Pei G, Ma L (2003) Modification of hippocampal neurogenesis and neuroplasticity by social environments. Exp Neurol 183:600–609

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McCormack VA, dos Santos SI, De Stavola BL, Mohsen R, Leon DA, Lithell HO (2003) Fetal growth and subsequent risk of breast cancer: results from long term follow up of Swedish cohort. BMJ 326:248

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McCrory E, De Brito SA, Viding E (2010) Research Review: The neurobiology and genetics of maltreatment and adversity. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 51:1079–1095

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moradi AR, Doost HT, Taghavi MR, Yule W, Dalgleish T (1999) Everyday memory deficits in children and adolescents with PTSD: performance on the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 40:357–361

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mungas D, Harvey D, Reed BR, Jagust WJ, DeCarli C, Beckett L, Mack WJ, Kramer JH, Weiner MW, Schuff N, Chui HC (2005) Longitudinal volumetric MRI change and rate of cognitive decline. Neurology 65:565–571

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Navalta CP, Polcari A, Webster DM, Boghossian A, Teicher MH (2006) Effects of childhood sexual abuse on neuropsychological and cognitive function in college women. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 18:45–53

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson CA 3rd, Zeanah CH, Fox NA, Marshall PJ, Smyke AT, Guthrie D (2007) Cognitive recovery in socially deprived young children: the Bucharest Early Intervention Project. Science 318:1937–1940

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson M, Perfilieva E, Johansson U, Orwar O, Eriksson PS (1999) Enriched environment increases neurogenesis in the adult rat dentate gyrus and improves spatial memory. J Neurobiol 39:569–578

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor TG, Rutter M (2000) Attachment disorder behavior following early severe deprivation: extension and longitudinal follow-up. English and Romanian Adoptees Study Team. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 39:703–712

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Parker KJ, Buckmaster CL, Justus KR, Schatzberg AF, Lyons DM (2005) Mild early life stress enhances prefrontal-dependent response inhibition in monkeys. Biol Psychiatry 57:848–855

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pears KC, Kim HK, Fisher PA (2008) Psychosocial and cognitive functioning of children with specific profiles of maltreatment. Child Abuse Negl 32:958–971

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pechtel P, Pizzagalli DA (2010) Effects of early life stress on cognitive and affective function: an integrated review of human literature. Psychopharmacology (Berl) (in press)

  • Perez CM, Widom CS (1994) Childhood victimization and long-term intellectual and academic outcomes. Child Abuse Negl 18:617–633

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rampon C, Tang YP, Goodhouse J, Shimizu E, Kyin M, Tsien JZ (2000) Enrichment induces structural changes and recovery from nonspatial memory deficits in CA1 NMDAR1-knockout mice. Nat Neurosci 3:238–244

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rutter M (1998) Developmental catch-up, and deficit, following adoption after severe global early privation. English and Romanian Adoptees (ERA) Study Team. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 39:465–476

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider ML (1992) Delayed object permanence development in prenatally stressed rhesus monkey infancts (Macaca mulatta). Occup Ther J Res 12:96–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoeman R, Carey P, Seedat S (2009) Trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in South African adolescents: a case-control study of cognitive deficits. J Nerv Ment Dis 197:244–250

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shonkoff JP, Boyce WT, McEwen BS (2009) Neuroscience, molecular biology, and the childhood roots of health disparities: building a new framework for health promotion and disease prevention. JAMA 301:2252–2259

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smith GD, Hart C, Blane D, Hole D (1998) Adverse socioeconomic conditions in childhood and cause specific adult mortality: prospective observational study. BMJ 316:1631–1635

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Spinelli S, Chefer S, Suomi SJ, Higley JD, Barr CS, Stein E (2009) Early-life stress induces long-term morphologic changes in primate brain. Arch Gen Psychiatry 66:658–665

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Squire LR, Stark CE, Clark RE (2004) The medial temporal lobe. Annu Rev Neurosci 27:279–306

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens HE, Leckman JF, Coplan JD, Suomi SJ (2009) Risk and resilience: early manipulation of macaque social experience and persistent behavioral and neurophysiological outcomes. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 48:114–127

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Suomi SJ (1997) Early determinants of behaviour: evidence from primate studies. Br Med Bull 53:170–184

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Teicher MH, Dumont NL, Ito Y, Vaituzis C, Giedd JN, Andersen SL (2004) Childhood neglect is associated with reduced corpus callosum area. Biol Psychiatry 56:80–85

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Titus-Ernstoff L, Egan KM, Newcomb PA, Ding J, Trentham-Dietz A, Greenberg ER, Baron JA, Trichopoulos D, Willett WC (2002) Early life factors in relation to breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomark Prev 11:207–210

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomalski P, Johnson MH (2010) The effects of early adversity on the adult and developing brain. Curr Opin Psychiatry 23:233–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • US Department of Health and Human Services (2010) Child Maltreatment 2008. Available at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/index.htm#can

  • Vallee M, MacCari S, Dellu F, Simon H, Le Moal M, Mayo W (1999) Long-term effects of prenatal stress and postnatal handling on age-related glucocorticoid secretion and cognitive performance: a longitudinal study in the rat. Eur J Neurosci 11:2906–2916

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • van den Dries L, Juffer F, van Ijzendoorn MH, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ (2010) Infants’ physical and cognitive development after international adoption from foster care or institutions in China. J Dev Behav Pediatr 31:144–150

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Woon FL, Hedges DW (2008) Hippocampal and amygdala volumes in children and adults with childhood maltreatment-related posttraumatic stress disorder: a meta-analysis. Hippocampus 18:729–736

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Woon FL, Sood S, Hedges DW (2010) Hippocampal volume deficits associated with exposure to psychological trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in adults: a meta-analysis. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 34:1181–1188

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yaffe K, Vittinghoff E, Lindquist K, Barnes D, Covinsky KE, Neylan T, Kluse M, Marmar C (2010) Posttraumatic stress disorder and risk of dementia among US veterans. Arch Gen Psychiatry 67:608–613

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yang J, Han H, Cao J, Li L, Xu L (2006) Prenatal stress modifies hippocampal synaptic plasticity and spatial learning in young rat offspring. Hippocampus 16:431–436

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yasik AE, Saigh PA, Oberfield RA, Halamandaris PV (2007) Posttraumatic stress disorder: memory and learning performance in children and adolescents. Biol Psychiatry 61:382–388

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yehuda R, Golier JA, Harvey PD, Stavitsky K, Kaufman S, Grossman RA, Tischler L (2005) Relationship between cortisol and age-related memory impairments in Holocaust survivors with PTSD. Psychoneuroendocrinology 30:678–687

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Conflicts of interest

None

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dawson W. Hedges.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hedges, D.W., Woon, F.L. Early-life stress and cognitive outcome. Psychopharmacology 214, 121–130 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-010-2090-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-010-2090-6

Keywords

Navigation