Childhood maltreatment (CM), with its subtypes sexual, physical and emotional abuse or neglect, is highly prevalent in our society and may have specific, long-lasting effects on the function and structure of the adult brain depending on the type of maltreatment. This study aims to characterize the neurocognitive profile of individuals with a history of childhood emotional abuse (EA) - a CM subtype, which has previously been neglected, but is amongst the most prevalent of CM subtypes and exhibits a strong association with chronic depressive symptoms in adulthood. Previous theories and findings hint that EA is associated with impaired social cognition, including altered function and structure in cortical midline structures (CMS) in the ‘social brain’. Women who reported childhood EA and a control group matched for age, education and socioeconomic status were assessed using hypotheses-based clinical, behavioral, cognitive and neuroimaging measures (task-based and resting-state functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging) focusing on social cognitive mechanisms and social brain regions in CMS. Preliminary results support the prospect of a specific neurocognitive profile of women with a history of EA, including a distinct impairment in social cognition, namely in interpersonal behavior and mentalizing, but not empathic abilities. By including behavioral and neuroimaging measures of social cognition, as well as interpersonal behavior in social situations, the present study promotes an explanatory model on the neurocognitive mechanisms by which EA modulates the functioning of the social brain into adulthood and the possible development of subsequent mental health symptoms, including persistent affective disorders.