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Commentary: Mapping the young, resilient brain – reflections on Burt et al. (2016)
Author(s) -
Shaw Philip
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/jcpp.12613
Subject(s) - prefrontal cortex , psychology , neuroimaging , neuroanatomy , psychological resilience , functional magnetic resonance imaging , neuroscience , developmental psychology , cognition , psychotherapist
The resilience of many children in the face of adversity has long been a research focus. The study by Burt et al. delineates the neuroanatomy of resilience, using in vivo magnetic resonance images acquired on 1,800 youth. They find that resilient youth had a larger right lateral prefrontal cortex compared to youth who either lacked resilience or did not experience adversity. The size of the right lateral prefrontal cortex was further associated with a likelihood of a maladaptive problem of alcohol use. These findings implicate high‐order regulatory processes supported by the right lateral prefrontal cortex as pivotal in resilience. The study also sets the stage for exploring how neuroimaging data, combined with behavioral and genomic information might be used to assess treatment efficacy and identify children who need therapeutic interventions to boost their resilience.