A group of scientists from Germany found that people who disliked or were disinterested in their mothers were much more likely to be among those who constantly sought approval and other social rewards. Scientific work published In Translational Psychiatry (part of the Nature journal group).
According to the researchers, children who lacked maternal love were unwittingly victims of parental separation that led to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
A neuroimaging study in the adult population of Europe and North America (118 in the sample) showed that PTSD tolerated from an early age causes changes in the brain, namely the striatum.
The scientists analyzed the brains of 118 volunteers using an MRI machine, among them 86 people were diagnosed with mental disorders and found abnormal striatum transformations in them. Recall that this part of the brain influences dopamine expression, which is regulated by social rewards.
Next, a group of researchers did a test for social and monetary rewards. During the experiment, the scientists showed the subjects various images of material goods (coins, wallets, banknotes), as well as photographs of people with different emotions.
As it turned out, when they saw a wallet and a coin, the participants in the study produced far less neural impulses compared to the response to images in which subjects saw cheerful faces.
Thus, the experiment showed that for people with changes in the striatum of the brain, social rewards are much more important than material rewards. For example, at the level of neural impulses, hugs, attention, human warmth and acceptance are more valuable to such people than money.
Note that brain changes also affect other factors that determine quality of life: People who experience parental neglect are at risk of developing mental problems such as major depressive disorder, somatic symptom disorder, and exacerbation of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.