Vicarious traumatization (VT), a negative reaction to witnessing others' trauma, has been experienced by some people during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to identify functional brain markers of COVID-specific VT and explore the psychological mechanism underlying the brain-VT link. Researchers found that VT was negatively correlated with functional connectivity density (FCD) in the right inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) and ITG-DMN connectivity. Mediation analyses suggested that psychological resilience mediated these associations. These results provide novel evidence on the brain basis of VT and emphasize psychological resilience as an important link from DMN functional connectivity to COVID-specific VT.

Xiqin Liu, Yajun Zhao, Xueling Suo, Xun Zhang, Nanfang Pan, Graham J. Kemp, Qiyong Gong, Song Wang