Neural Basis of Psychological Growth following Adverse Experiences: A Resting-State Functional MRI Study

PLoS One. 2015 Aug 20;10(8):e0136427. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0136427. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Over the past decade, research on the aftereffects of stressful or traumatic events has emphasized the negative outcomes from these experiences. However, the positive outcomes deriving from adversity are increasingly being examined, and such positive changes are described as posttraumatic growth (PTG). To investigate the relationship between basal whole-brain functional connectivity and PTG, we employed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and analyzed the neural networks using independent component analysis in a sample of 33 healthy controls. Correlations were calculated between the network connectivity strength and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) score. There were positive associations between the PTGI scores and brain activation in the rostral prefrontal cortex and superior parietal lobule (SPL) within the left central executive network (CEN) (respectively, r = 0.41, p < 0.001; r = 0.49, p < 0.001). Individuals with higher psychological growth following adverse experiences had stronger activation in prospective or working memory areas within the executive function network than did individuals with lower psychological growth (r = 0.40, p < 0.001). Moreover, we found that individuals with higher PTG demonstrated stronger connectivity between the SPL and supramarginal gyrus (SMG). The SMG is one of the brain regions associated with the ability to reason about the mental states of others, otherwise known as mentalizing. These findings suggest that individuals with higher psychological growth may have stronger functional connectivity between memory functions within the CEN and social functioning in the SMG, and that their better sociality may result from using more memory for mentalizing during their daily social interactions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Brain / physiology*
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Executive Function / physiology
  • Female
  • Functional Neuroimaging
  • Humans
  • Life Change Events
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Nerve Net / physiology*
  • Parietal Lobe / physiology
  • Prefrontal Cortex / physiology
  • Psychological Tests
  • Resilience, Psychological*
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / physiopathology
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) and Challenging Exploratory Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) of Japan (KAKENHI, https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/index.html, grant numbers 24300149 and 25560386 to Akemi Tomoda) and by a grant from Center of Developmental Education and Research (CORDER, http://www.coder.or.jp/index.html) in Japan (grant number 2509 to Takashi X. Fujisawa). There are no conflicts of interest, including any financial, personal, or other relationships with persons or organizations, for any author related to the work described in this article.