Early adversity and mechanisms of plasticity: Integrating affective neuroscience with developmental approaches to psychopathology

Interest in the effects of early adversity on children's development reflects contemporary emphases on early experience in the behavioral sciences and plasticity in the neurosciences. Over the past decade, powerful new tools and approaches for understanding the neural circuitry involved in emotion have become increasingly available. Yet, research in developmental psychopathology has not reaped the full benefits of affective neuroscience approaches and methods. Integration of affective neuroscience approaches can excavate developmental mechanisms, thereby advancing knowledge about the etiology, prevention, and treatment of mental health problems in children. Here, we consider two general principles that can guide understanding of plasticity in the neural circuitry of emotion systems and the development of psychopathology. The author was generously supported by the National Institutes of Mental Health (MH 61285, MH 68858) and by the University of Wisconsin. Elizabeth Shirtcliff, Alison Wismer Fries, Jessica Shackman, and Julia Kim–Cohen provided thoughtful comments on an early draft of this paper. The author also thanks Dante Cicchetti and Michael Posner for their critical reviews of the manuscript and Erin Henigan for help with preparation of this manuscript.