# @science on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DUcH3tqEsuY
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/55696697-science-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/5b61033fc3.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-02-07T02:10:17.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Science 🧬 (@science) — https://gondola.cc/science

## Caption

A 2012 study published in Current Biology showed that children who were exposed to family violence showed changes in the reactivity of their amygdalae and AIs that were similar to those seen in soldiers returning from combat. Even when these children showed no outward signs of unusual levels of depression or anxiety, studies of their brain activity showed that their systems were in vigilant gear and overly reactive to perceived threats.⁠
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Twenty children who had been exposed to family violence and 20 control-matched peers were shown pictures of angry, sad, or neutral faces. The children all had normal outward levels of anxiety and depression. Their neurological response to the pictures was measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). When viewing the angry faces, the children who had been exposed to family violence showed a greater level of activation of the amygdala and AI regions compared to controls. They did not overreact to the sad or neutral faces. The degrees of activation mirrored the severity of the violence exposure they had experienced; the more violence in their lives, the stronger the neurological response in the brain's stress regions.⁠
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The researchers concluded that children who have been exposed to family violence, even if they are not showing overt symptoms, have a heightened neural responsiveness to stress. The authors point out that this may be a beneficial adaptation in the short term to a threatening environment, but it may pose problems in the long term.⁠
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The researchers suggest that this excessive neural responsiveness to stress may negatively impact a child's development in several ways. When a child devotes the majority of his or her cognitive and emotional energy to dealing with real or perceived threats, he or she has less time and mental energy to take on age-appropriate challenges and to develop age-appropriate social and thinking skills.⁠
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Simply put, it's much harder to play imaginatively when you are worried all the time.⁠
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#psychology #amygdala #brain #biology #science⁠

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## Tags

science, brain, psychology, biology, amygdala

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