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Neurobiology of empathy and its development in children from risky environments

Publication at First Faculty of Medicine |
2021

Abstract

According to statistics from the Who Panel for children at risk from 2020, every second child aged 2 to 17 years has experienced some form of violence against him/her. nevertheless, adverse experiences of children change the structure, function and connectivity of the CNS, and they negatively affect the child's mental and physical health in the long-term. child neglect, particularly in the critical period, causes atrophy of specific neuronal modules which negatively affects the development of the child's personality. in some cases, growing up in an unfavourable environment leads to an atypical reaction to someone else's pain/suffering resulting in an increased activity in matrix pain, amygdala, temporal pole and especially nucleus accumbens especially when the pain was caused intentionally to another person. a deeper understanding of the phenomena mentioned above, along with further understanding of the prevention programs could increase the vulnerable children's chances of being able to fully integrate into society.