Amygdala reward reactivity mediates the association between preschool stress response and depression severity

摘要

BackgroundResearch in adolescents and adults has suggested that altered neural processing of reward following early life adversity is a highly promising depressive intermediate phenotype. However, very little is known about how stress reactivity, neural processing of reward, and depression are related in very young children. Motivated by this knowledge gap, the present study examined the concurrent associations between cortisol response following a stressor, functional brain activity to reward, and depression severity in 4–6 year old children.