Rakesh Allen Whittle 2023.

• Paste quoted text from the Methods section of the article on the next line. Do not include quotation marks or a bullet mark:

At both T1 and T2, adolescents completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) (Radloff, 1977), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) (Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer,1988), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Participants were administered the CES-D and the BAI at the time of each scan to assess the presence of depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively. Problematic substance use at the time of each scan was assessed using the YRBS and defined based on a method used previously (Rakesh et al.,2020b) (see online Supplementary Material for details).

• Write your translation on the next line:

At two different time points, adolescent participants were given the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Youth Behaviour Risk Survey (YRBS) from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, to complete. At the time of scannings, the CES-D was given to determine if any depressive symptoms were present, and the BAI for any anxiety symptoms. In order to check for problematic substance abuse, the YRBS was used at the time of scans as well. 

• Paste quoted text from the Introduction of the article on the next line. Do not include quotation marks:

As such, we conducted exploratory analyses to examine the differential effects of abuse and neglect on within-DMN connectivity.Given that adversity is posited to accelerate neural development (Callaghan & Tottenham, 2016), and within-network integration increases throughout adolescence (Dumontheil, 2016;Stevens, 2016; Truelove-hill et al., 2020), we hypothesized that abuse would be associated with greater increases in within-network connectivity of the SN, while neglect would be associated with greater within-network connectivity of the ECN. 

• Write your translation on the next line:

This research paper aimed to study the varying effects of abuse and neglect on connections within the default mode network (DMN) which consists of the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, and other regions. According to previous research, hardships are shown to speed up neural development and the strengthening of connections within specific brain regions increases throughout adolescence. The researchers have hypothesized that abuse and neglect are linked to increased inter-region connectivity of the salience network (SN), and executive control network (ECN), respectively.

• Paste quoted text from the Results section in the article on the next line. Do not include quotation marks:

In order to elucidate at which ages the developmental trajectories diverged as a function of maltreatment, we examined cross-sectional relationships for within-SN connectivity at each time point. At T1 we found a significant negative relationship between abuse (Fig. 3a) but not neglect (Fig. 3c), and within-SN connectivity. At T2, we found a significant positive association between neglect (Fig. 3d ), but not abuse (Fig. 3b), scores and within-SN connectivity.

• Write your translation on the next line:

To explain when the neural developmental paths differentiated due to mistreatment, in this case abuse and neglect specifically, the researchers investigated cross-sectional relationships in inter-SN (salience network)  connectivity over two time points. At T1, there was a substantial negative relationship between abuse and inter-SN connectivity but not neglect. At T2, there was a substantial positive relationship between neglect and inter-SN connectivity, but not abuse. 

• Paste quoted text from the Discussion section of the article on the next line. Do not include quotation marks:

Our finding of abuse- and neglect-associated increase within-SN connectivity could therefore reflect more advanced salience processing and consequently greater sensitivity to threat. Further, accelerated neurodevelopment has been suggested to be an ontogenetic response to early adversity (Callaghan & Tottenham, 2016), and it has been suggested that the experience of adversity leads to reprioritization of developmental strategy in favor of quicker maturation of stress-associated systems. 

• Write your translation on the next line:

The researchers findings reveal that abuse and neglect do show an increased connectivity within the salience network and as such, there is a higher sensitivity to threats in the studied participants. Quicker neural maturation and development is a learned response to exposure to hardships and difficulties in one’s environment in earlier stages of life. This has been proposed to lead to accelerated maturation of stress associated systems. 

• What future research should follow up on this work?

Due to the field of neuroscience and psychology having many possibilities for explanation of a particular result, future research can follow many directions. One such possible exploration for this work could be to research how abuse and neglect and the resulting accelerated neural maturation is related to other regions of the brain. Since this study only looked at the SN, ECN and DMN, and its interconnectivity, is it possible for adversity’s effects on other brain areas to contribute to the found mental health changes? 

• What did you not understand about this paper that someone else may be able to help you with? Or, if you understood everything, what did you find most challenging to understand?

It was challenging to interpret different sections of the results due to its heavy focus on advanced statistical analysis concepts. For example, it was difficult to understand the results of Figure 5 which used a concept called ‘mediation models’, which I am unfamiliar with.