Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to brief images of
caregivers' and strangers' faces for 72 institutionalized
children (IG), ages 7–32 months, and compared with ERPs from 33
children, ages 8–32 months, who had never been institutionalized.
All children resided in Bucharest, Romania. Prominent differences in four
ERP components were observed: early negative (N170), early positive
(P250), midlatency negative (Nc), and positive slow wave (PSW). For all
but the P250, the amplitude of these components was larger in the never
instituionalized group than the institutionalized group; this pattern was
reversed for the P250. Typical effects of the Nc (amplitude greater to
stranger vs. caregiver) were observed in both groups; in contrast, the IG
group showed an atypical pattern in the PSW. These findings are discussed
in the context of the role of experience in influencing the neural
circuitry putatively involved in recognizing familiar and novel faces.The work reported in this manuscript was
supported by a research network (Early Experience and Brain Development)
funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (Charles A.
Nelson, Network Chair). The Bucharest Early Intervention Core Group
consists of Charles H. Zeanah, Anna T. Smyke, and Sebastian F. Koga
(Tulane University); Charles A. Nelson (Harvard Medical School); Susan W.
Parker (Randolph-Macon College); Nathan A. Fox (University of Maryland);
Peter J. Marshall (Temple University); and Hermi R. Woodward (University
of Pittsburgh/MacArthur Research Networks). The authors acknowledge
the many invaluable contributions of their Romanian partner institutions,
the SERA Romania Foundation, the Institute of Maternal and Child Health,
and the Bucharest Departments of Child Protection. They are also deeply
grateful to their Romanian team, whose hard work and dedication has made
this study possible and to Dana Johnson and Mary Jo Spencer for conducting
the pediatric screens.