Poverty and Adversity Changes Brain Function

Peter ForsterBasic Science

A remarkable study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry identifies ways that the experience of poverty and adversity changes brain function. Specifically, the study finds that adolescents growing up in lower socioeconomic environments are more likely to have the gene that codes for the serotonin transporter protein methylated in a region that is associated with increased reactivity of the amygdala to threat. …