Default mode alterations in posttraumatic stress disorder related to early-life trauma: a developmental perspective.

Recently, altered default mode network (DMN) connectivity in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been related to prolonged childhood maltreatment. An emerging body of literature also describes the developmental differentiation of the DMN in healthy children. Critically, developmental changes in the DMN may parallel those observed in other associated domains, including self-referential processing, autobiographical memory, prospection and theory of mind, which are thought to rely on many of the same underlying processes and neural substrates implicated in the DMN. Moreover, deficient DMN connectivity in adults with childhood maltreatment–related PTSD appears similar to patterns of DMN connectivity observed in healthy children aged 7 to 9 years. Here, we propose that early-life trauma may interfere with the developmental trajectory of the DMN and its associated functions.