press_release_conclusion: In the first functional MRI brain scan study to investigate the impact of physical abuse and domestic violence on children, scientists at UCL in collaboration with the Anna Freud Centre, found that exposure to family violence was associated with increased brain activity in two specific brain areas (the anterior insula and the amygdala) when children viewed pictures of angry faces.
abstract_conclusion: We demonstrated that children exposed to family violence (with normative levels of anxiety) show increased AI and amygdala reactivity in response to angry but not sad faces.