My lab studies the effects of early deprived care on the development of self-regulatory systems, including systems involved in both stress and socioemotional regulation. We study the two arms of the mammalian stress system: the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system and the sympathetic-adrenomedullary (SAM) system. We also study cognitive systems involved in socioemotional regulation, including reactive (vigilance) and executive attention systems. Animal studies have demonstrated that the quality of care young mammals receive early in life programs these systems to either anticipate harsh or more benign life conditions. When programmed for harsh conditions, stress, emotion and cognitive systems are biased towards “reaction” rather than “reflection”. That is, they are biased towards hyper-vigilance and defensive responding (i.e., fight/flight/freeze) at the expense of reflective, analytic modes of processing information and responding to events. Our lab is examining whether and how the human “chapter to this mammalian story” is written.

We have been working with children adopted internationally to learn how early adverse care impacts development. Many of the children we work with have been adopted from orphanages/institutions, while some come from foster care settings overseas. Increasingly we are seeing children with mixed institutional/foster care backgrounds. These children share the experience of a marked change in life conditions with adoption that allows us to examine questions about the impact of both dose and duration of early adverse care. Our website provides information about our findings and about the studies we are currently conducting.  

International Adoption Project

We find evidence that early experiences have lasting impact on stress and socioemotional regulatory systems, but we also find evidence that these systems, calibrated early to harsh conditions, may be capable of at least limited “recalibration” later in life. Puberty may be a particularly important period for such recalibration and many of our studies are now focused on puberty and adolescent development in children exposed adverse care conditions early in life.

We are part of several research networks that inform our work.  The National Institute of Mental Health funds our Early Experience, Stress and Neurobehavioral Development Center that Professor Gunnar Co-directs and the Experience-Based Brain and Biological Development Program. To help give the science away so that it can influence individuals who make policies that impact young children, our lab is a part of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child.

Selected Publications

1. Tottenham, N., Hare, T.A., Quinn, B.T., McCarry, T.W., Nurse, M., Galvan, A., Davidson, M.C., Thomas, K. McEwen, B., Gunnar, M., Aronson, J., & Casey, B.J. (2010). Amygdala volume and sensitivity to emotional information following orphanage rearing. Developmental Science, 13(1):46-61.

2. Lupien, S.J., McEwen, B.S., Gunnar, M.R., Heim, C. (2009). Effects of stress throughout the lifespan on brain, behavior and cognition. Nature Neuroscience, 10, 434-45.

3. Fernald, L.C.H. & Gunnar, M.R. (2009). The effects of a poverty-alleviation program on salivary cortisol in children: An analysis of Mexico’s Oportunidades. Social Science and Medicine, 68(12), 2180-9.

4. Loman, M.M., Wiik, K.L., Frenn, K.A., Pollak, S.D., & Gunnar, M.R. (2009). Post institutionalized children's development: Growth, cognitive, and language outcomes. Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics,  30(5):426-34.

5. Quevedo, K.M., Smith, T., Donzella, B., Schunk, E., & Gunnar,M.R. (2010). The startle response: Developmental effects and a paradigm for children and adults. Developmental Psychobiology, 52(1):78-89.

6. Cicchetti, D., Rogosch, F.A., Gunnar, M.R., & Toth, S.L. (2010). The differential impacts of early abuse on internalizing problems and diurnal cortisol activity in school-aged children.  Child Development, 81(1):252-69.

7. Pollak, S.D., Nelson, C.A., Schlaak, M., Roeber, B., Wewerka, S.S., Wiik, K.L., Frenn, K., Loman, M.M., & Gunnar, M.R. (2010). Neurodevelopmental effects of early deprivation in post-institutionalized children. Child Development, 81,224-36. 

8. Loman, M., & Gunnar, M.R. and the Early Experience, Stress and Neurodevelopment Center Team (2010). Early experience and the development of stress reactivity and regulation in children.  Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 34(6):867-876.

9. Cutuli,J.J., Wiik, K.L., Herbers, J.E., Gunnar, M.R., & Masten, A.S. (2010). Cortisol function among early school-aged homeless children. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 35, 833-845.

10. Wilbarger, J., Gunnar, M.R., Schneider, M. & Pollak, S. (2010). Sensory processing in internationally-adopted, post-institutionalized children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51(10):1105-14. 

11. Gunnar, M.R. (2010). Reversing the effects of early deprivation after infancy: Giving children families may not be enough. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 8; 4: 170.

12. Wiik, K., Loman, M.M., Van Ryzin, M.J., Armstrong, J.M., Essex, M.J., Pollak, S.D. & Gunnar, M.R. (2011). Behavioral and emotional symptoms of post-institutionalized children in middle childhood: Parent and child perspectives. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.  52(1):56-63. 

13. Kroupina, M.G., Bauer, P.J., Gunnar, M.R., & Johnson, D.E. (2010). Institutional care as a risk factor for declarativememory development.  Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 38, 137-159.

14. Tarullo, A., Garvin, M., & Gunnar, M.R. (2011)Atypical EEG power correlates with indiscriminately friendly behavior in internationally adopted children Developmental Psychology, 47, 417-431.

15. Johnson, A.E., Bruce, J., Tarullo, A.R., & Gunnar, M.R. (2011). Growth delay as an index of allostatic load in young children: Predictions to disinhibited social approach and diurnal cortisol activity. Development and Psychopathology.23, 859-71.