Age-related changes in error processing in young children: a school-based investigation

Neural dynamics of executive function in cognitively able kindergarteners with autism spectrum disorders as predictors of concurrent academic achievement

Although electrophysiological (electroencephalography) measures of executive functions (e.g. error monitoring) have been used to predict academic achievement in typically developing children, work investigating a link between error monitoring and academic skills in children with autism spectrum disorder is limited. In this study, we employed traditional electrophysiological and advanced time-frequency methods, combined with principal component analyses, to extract neural activity related to error monitoring and tested their relations to academic achievement in cognitively able kindergarteners with autism spectrum disorder. In total, 35 cognitively able kindergarteners with autism spectrum disorder completed academic assessments and the child-friendly "Zoo Game" Go/No-go task at school entry. The Go/No-go task successfully elicited an error-related negativity and error positivity in children with autism spectrum disorder as young as 5 years at fronto-central and posterior electrode sites, respectively. We also observed increased response-related theta power during errors relative to correct trials at fronto-central sites. Both larger error positivity and theta power significantly predicted concurrent academic achievement after controlling for behavioral performance on the Zoo Game and intelligence quotient. These results suggest that the use of time-frequency electroencephalography analyses, combined with traditional event-related potential measures, may provide new opportunities to investigate neurobiological mechanisms of executive function and academic achievement in young children with autism spectrum disorder.

Moderation of the relationship between the error-related negativity and anxiety by age and gender in young children: A preliminary investigation

The error-related negativity (ERN) is a neurophysiologic response to errors that associates with anxiety. Despite the potential relevance of the ERN for understanding mechanisms of early anxiety problems in the developing brain, the relation between ERN and anxious symptoms in young children remains poorly understood. Emerging evidence suggests that ERN-anxiety associations could vary by developmental stage, but this work requires replication and consideration of gender effects, given earlier maturation of the ERN and higher rates of anxiety problems in girls relative to boys. To address this gap, the ERN was collected in 49 preschool- to school-aged children (ages 4-9; 26 girls) sampled across a wide range of anxiety severity. Regression analyses revealed that ERN - anxiety associations depended on age and gender. Specifically, larger (more negative) ERN associated with more anxiety in older girls, whereas smaller ERN associated with more anxiety symptoms in younger girls. No ERN-anxiety association was found in boys. These findings suggest that age and gender moderate the direction of the relation between ERN and anxiety in early childhood and could have important implications for the development of ERN-based risk identification and targeted treatment strategies tailored to individual children.

Acute stress impairs children's sustained attention with increased vulnerability for children of mothers reporting higher parenting stress

Despite evidence that acute stress impairs attention in adults, there has been minimal research in children. Here, the effects of acute stress on Go/No-go performance were examined in young children (M age = 5.41 years). Given the critical role of the parent-child relationship to children's self-regulatory development, the extent to which parenting stress predicts children's cognitive vulnerability to acute stress and autonomic reactivity was also investigated. A between-groups design (n = 58 stress, n = 26 control) was used with oversampling of the stressor-exposed children to examine individual differences. The Parenting Stress Index and subscales were employed as a measure of parenting stress. Acute stress impaired children's sustained attention, but not inhibitory control. Higher parenting stress was associated with vulnerability to attentional impairment. Parenting distress was also positively associated with sympathetic reactivity to acute stress, but neither sympathetic nor parasympathetic reactivity was associated with attentional impairment. A conceptual model of pathways through which repetitive acute stress may contribute to self-regulatory difficulties is presented, including the potential buffering role of caregivers.

Conducting Event-Related Potential (ERP) Research with Young Children: A Review of Components, Special Considerations and Recommendations for Research on Cognition and Emotion

There has been an unprecedented increase in the number of research studies employing event-related potential (ERP) techniques to examine dynamic and rapidly-occurring neural processes with children during the preschool and early childhood years. Despite this, there has been little discussion of the methodological and procedural differences that exist for studies of young children versus older children and adults. That is, reviewers, editors, and consumers of this work often expect developmental studies to simply apply adult techniques and procedures to younger samples. Procedurally, this creates unrealistic expectations for research paradigms, data collection, and data reduction and analyses. Scientifically, this leads to inappropriate measures and methods that hinder drawing conclusions and advancing theory. Based on ERP work with preschoolers and young children from 10 laboratories across North America, we present a summary of the most common ERP components under study in the area of emotion and cognition in young children along with 13 realistic expectations for data collection and loss, laboratory procedures and paradigms, data processing, ERP averaging, and typical challenges for conducting this type of work. This work is intended to supplement previous guidelines for work with adults and offer insights to aid researchers, reviewers, and editors in the design and evaluation of developmental research using ERPs. Here we make recommendations for researchers who plan to conduct or who are conducting ERP studies in children between ages 2 and 12, focusing on studies of toddlers and preschoolers. Recommendations are based on both data and our cumulative experience and include guidelines for laboratory setup, equipment and recording settings, task design, and data processing.

Error monitoring and daily life executive functioning

Error monitoring during task execution is reflected in post-error slowing (PES), which refers to the tendency to slow down performance after making an error in order to prevent future mistakes. The key question of the present study is whether poor error monitoring (reduced magnitude of PES) has negative consequences for daily life executive function skills, as well as functioning in different life settings such as work, family, social, and academic settings. Eighty-five university students performed a lexical decision task and completed The Executive Function Index Scale (EFI), and the Weiss Functional Impairments Rating Scale (WFIRS). Individual academic achievement was measured using the Grade Point Average. Statistical analysis revealed that a decreased magnitude of PES was weakly associated with less efficient planning (one of the executive functions). Results suggest that error monitoring, as measured by PES, was not associated with functioning in a naturalistic environment, but could be interpreted to some extent as an experimental marker of planning in daily life executive functioning.

Socioeconomic status and neural processing of a go/no-go task in preschoolers: An assessment of the P3b

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Children aged 4.5–5.5 years completed a go/no-go task while recording EEG.

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P3b amplitudes were assessed, indexing inhibition and attention processes.

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Higher household income related to larger P3b amplitudes on go and no-go trials.

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Results show that SES has implications for children’s neural processing.

While it is well established that lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with poorer executive functioning (EF), how SES relates to the neural processing of EF in childhood remains largely unexplored. We examined how household income and parent education related to amplitudes of the P3b, an event-related potential component, during one EF task. We assessed the P3b, indexing inhibition and attention allocation processes, given the importance of these skills for academic success. Children aged 4.5–5.5 years completed a go/no-task, which assesses inhibitory control and attention, while recording EEG. The P3b was assessed for both go trials (indexing sustained attention) and no-go trials (indexing inhibition processes). Higher household income was related to larger P3b amplitudes on both go and no-go trials. This was a highly educated sample, thus results indicate that P3b amplitudes are sensitive to household income even within the context of high parental education. Findings build on the behavioral literature and demonstrate that SES also has implications for the neural mechanisms underlying inhibition and attention processing in early childhood.

Error processing in the adolescent brain: Age-related differences in electrophysiology, behavioral adaptation, and brain morphology

Detecting errors and adjusting behaviour appropriately are fundamental cognitive abilities that are known to improve through adolescence. The cognitive and neural processes underlying this development, however, are still poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we performed a thorough investigation of error processing in a Flanker task in a cross-sectional sample of participants 8 to 19 years of age (n = 98). We examined age-related differences in event-related potentials known to be associated with error processing, namely the error-related negativity (ERN) and the error positivity (Pe), as well as their relationships with task performance, post-error adjustments and regional cingulate cortex thickness and surface area. We found that ERN amplitude increased with age, while Pe amplitude remained constant. A more negative ERN was associated with higher task accuracy and faster reaction times, while a more positive Pe was associated with higher accuracy, independently of age. When estimating post-error adjustments from trials following both incongruent and congruent trials, post-error slowing and post-error improvement in accuracy both increased with age, but this was only found for post-error slowing when analysing trials following incongruent trials. There were no age-independent associations between either ERN or Pe amplitude and cingulate cortex thickness or area measures.

Error-related brain activity in pediatric anxiety disorders remains elevated following individual therapy: a randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND

Anxiety disorders are associated with an overactive action monitoring system as indexed by a larger error-related negativity (ERN). This study tests whether ERN magnitude changes following treatment, predicts response to treatment, and varies by treatment type.

METHODS

The sample included 130 youth (9-14 years): youth with an anxiety disorder (ANX; n = 100) and healthy control (HC; n = 30) youth with no lifetime DSM-IV disorders. ANX youth were randomized to either a manualized cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) or a comparison child-centered therapy (CCT). The ERN was assessed before and after 16 sessions of treatment and within a comparable interval for HC. Subjective ratings about making errors on the task were obtained following each testing session. The ClinicalTrials.gov identifier is NCT00774150.

RESULTS

The ERN was larger in ANX than HC youth but ERN magnitude did not significantly change following treatment in the ANX youth, regardless of treatment type, and baseline ERN did not predict treatment response. Post-task ratings revealed that ANX youth worried more about task performance feedback than HC. Like the ERN, mean ratings did not significantly change following treatment. However, these ratings were not correlated with ERN amplitude.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings of greater ERN in pediatric anxiety disorders are replicated in a larger sample. More importantly, findings from this randomized control trial show that a larger ERN and feeling worried about performance feedback remain unchanged following treatment and are unrelated to treatment response. Such findings suggest that action monitoring systems remain overactive in anxious youth treated with psychotherapy, suggesting the need for future investigation of whether novel complimentary cognitive and emotional training programs can modify these systems would be warranted.

A systematic assessment of socioeconomic status and executive functioning in early childhood

Lower socioeconomic status (SES) consistently relates to poorer executive function (EF). This study used a systematic and nuanced approach to understand how SES relates to children's EF at a process level. We assessed children aged 4.5-5.5 years. This is a key developmental period because EF is no longer a unitary construct but rather EF components statistically load on separate factors and index distinct aspects of EF. Children completed a working memory task that involved a cognitive load component and a go/no-go task to assess inhibitory control and vigilance. Accuracy and reaction time were assessed, and each task involved four blocks to assess performance over time. Lower SES related to lower accuracy for working memory, inhibitory control, and vigilance as well as slower reaction time for working memory. SES did not relate to go/no-go reaction time. For working memory, lower SES related to poorer accuracy on lower cognitive load trials, but there were no SES differences on higher cognitive load trials. SES did not relate to maintenance of performance over time. Results suggest that for this age group the majority of domains showed SES differences. However, there were no SES differences in performance for remembering two items and maintaining performance. Thus, although overall lower SES related to poorer EF performance, there were no SES effects for skills that are still emerging for all children, namely, maintaining task performance across time and remembering two items at once. Results highlight the importance of assessing EF as a multidimensional construct and may help to identify targets for intervention.

Feedback-related neurophysiology in children and their parents: Developmental differences, familial transmission, and relationship to error-monitoring

The feedback negativity (FN) and reward positivity (RewP) are event-related brain potentials (ERPs) that follow the presentation of negative and positive feedback information, respectively, and have become the focus of recent research on psychopathology because of their associations with symptom severity of and risk for depression. We advanced our understanding of these feedback-related ERPs by examining developmental differences, familial transmission, and associations with error-monitoring ERPs. Parents and their children completed parallel, developmentally-tailored guessing and go/no-go tasks while feedback- and error-related ERPs were measured. We found that the Δ FN and RewP amplitudes increased with age and were larger in males than females among the child participants. The RewP also demonstrated familial transmission between fathers and their children. Finally, the FN and RewP were associated with error-related ERPs in children and adults, albeit in different ways. The current findings demonstrate that the FN and RewP have promise as developmentally-sensitive neural markers of reward and action monitoring processes associated with risk for psychopathology.

Social influences of error monitoring in adolescent girls

Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by increased social motivation and a heightened concern of peer evaluation. However, little research has examined social influences on neural functioning in adolescence. One psychophysiological measure of motivation, the error-related negativity (ERN), is an ERP following an error. In adults, the ERN is enhanced by contextual factors that influence motivation, such as social observation and evaluation. The current study examined relations among age and neural responses in social contexts in adolescence. Seventy-six adolescent girls (9-17 years old) completed a flanker task under two different conditions. In the social condition, adolescent girls were informed that two other adolescents would be observing and providing feedback about their performance. In the nonsocial condition, adolescent girls completed a flanker task alone and were told feedback was computer generated. Results revealed that younger adolescents exhibited a larger ERN in social contexts than nonsocial contexts. In contrast, there were no differences in the ERN between contexts among older adolescents. In addition, enhancements of the ERN in social contexts among younger adolescents diminished the relation between the ERN and age. These findings suggest that the ERN is sensitive to social contexts in early adolescence, and developmental changes in the ERN may be partially explained by contextual factors that influence motivation.

Associations between Disorder-Specific Symptoms of Anxiety and Error-Monitoring Brain Activity in Young Children

Anxiety disorders are among the earliest emerging disorders and most common mental health problem across the lifespan. A common characteristic of individuals with anxiety is poor attentional and cognitive control. Therefore, researchers are interested in how cognitive functioning relates to anxiety in young children. In particular, research has demonstrated associations between anxiety and electrophysiological markers of cognitive control skills such as the error-related negativity (ERN). The nature of the anxiety-ERN relationship is not well understood, however. The purpose of the present study was to examine: 1) the association between the ERN and diagnostically-defined symptoms of different anxiety disorders; and 2) the extent to which disorder-specific symptoms of anxiety moderated the association between ERN and behavioral performance on a Go/No-Go task in a sample of 139 children 5-8 years of age (70 females and 69 males). Results suggest that more separation anxiety disorder (SAD) symptoms are associated with a smaller ΔERN, even after controlling for other anxiety disorder symptoms. Children with more SAD symptoms showed higher error rates and failed to exhibit the expected association between ΔERN and behavioral performance, suggesting ineffective error-monitoring in young children with SAD problems.

Comparing Self-Regulation-Associated Event Related Potentials in Preschool Children with and without High Levels of Disruptive Behavior

Deficient self-regulation plays a key role in the etiology of early onset disruptive behavior disorders and signals risk for chronic psychopathology. However, to date, there has been no research comparing preschool children with and without high levels of disruptive behavior using Event Related Potentials (ERPs) associated with specific self-regulation sub-processes. We examined 15 preschool children with high levels of disruptive behavior (35 % female) and 20 peers with low disruptive behavior (50 % female) who completed a Go/No-go task that provided emotionally valenced feedback. We tested whether 4 ERP components: the Error Related Negativity, the Error Positivity, the Feedback Related Negativity, and the No-go N2, differed in preschool children with and without high levels of disruptive behavior. Preschoolers with high levels of disruptive behavior showed less differentiation between the Error Positivity and corresponding waveforms following correct responses at posterior sites. Preschoolers with high and low disruptive behavior also showed differences in Go/No-go N2 waveform amplitudes across electrodes. These findings suggest that preschool children with high levels of disruptive behavior may show abnormal brain activity during certain self-regulation sub-processes, informing potential advances in conceptualizing and treating early disruptive behavior.

Maternal Behavior and Socioeconomic Status Predict Longitudinal Changes in Error-Related Negativity in Preschoolers

The development self-regulation has been called a primary task of childhood. One system of self-regulation, self-monitoring, is indexed at the level of neural activity as early as preschool as the error-related negativity (ERN). However, how context elicits developmental changes in neural processes of self-monitoring like the ERN is not well understood. Here, socioeconomic status (SES) and parenting were tested as environmental influences on ERN development between ages 3 and 4 (N = 119). Results showed the expected increases in ERN between ages 3 and 4 only when both maternal sensitivity and SES were high. This work demonstrates the importance of considering the early environment in order to understand the development of a neural process supporting self-regulation in young children.

Targeting self-regulation to promote health behaviors in children

Poor self-regulation (i.e., inability to harness cognitive, emotional, motivational resources to achieve goals) is hypothesized to contribute to unhealthy behaviors across the lifespan. Enhancing early self-regulation may increase positive health outcomes. Obesity is a major public health concern with early-emerging precursors related to self-regulation; it is therefore a good model for understanding self-regulation and health behavior. Preadolescence is a transition when children increase autonomy in health behaviors (e.g., eating, exercise habits), many of which involve self-regulation. This paper presents the scientific rationale for examining self-regulation mechanisms that are hypothesized to relate to health behaviors, specifically obesogenic eating, that have not been examined in children. We describe novel intervention protocols designed to enhance self-regulation skills, specifically executive functioning, emotion regulation, future-oriented thinking, and approach bias. Interventions are delivered via home visits. Assays of self-regulation and obesogenic eating behaviors using behavioral tasks and self-reports are implemented and evaluated to determine feasibility and psychometrics and to test intervention effects. Participants are low-income 9-12 year-old children who have been phenotyped for self-regulation, stress, eating behavior and adiposity through early childhood. Study goals are to examine intervention effects on self-regulation and whether change in self-regulation improves obesogenic eating.

The error-related negativity (ERN) is an electrophysiological marker of motor impulsiveness on the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) during adolescence

Objectives

Previous studies have postulated that the error-related negativity (ERN) may reflect individual differences in impulsivity; however, none have used a longitudinal framework or evaluated impulsivity as a multidimensional construct. The current study evaluated whether ERN amplitude, measured in childhood and adolescence, is predictive of impulsiveness during adolescence.

Methods

Seventy-five children participated in this study, initially at ages 7–9 years and again at 12–18 years. The interval between testing sessions ranged from 5 to 9 years. The ERN was extracted in response to behavioural errors produced during a modified visual flanker task at both time points (i.e. childhood and adolescence). Participants also completed the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale − a measure that considers impulsiveness to comprise three core sub-traits − during adolescence.

Results

At adolescence, the ERN amplitude was significantly larger than during childhood. Additionally, ERN amplitude during adolescence significantly predicted motor impulsiveness at that time point, after controlling for age, gender, and the number of trials included in the ERN. In contrast, ERN amplitude during childhood did not uniquely predict impulsiveness during adolescence.

Conclusions

These findings provide preliminary evidence that ERN amplitude is an electrophysiological marker of self-reported motor impulsiveness (i.e. acting without thinking) during adolescence.

Associations between developmental changes in error-related brain activity and executive functions in early childhood

Behavioral evidence indicates that skills associated with children's cognitive control (e.g., response inhibition and attentional control) undergo rapid development during early childhood. A particularly important time is the transition to elementary school. Yet, at present, relatively little is known about developmental changes in the brain processes linked to cognitive control during this period, including those associated with error monitoring, including the error-related negativity (ERN) and the error positivity (Pe). Moreover, understanding how ERP correlates of cognitive control relate to behavioral measures of these skills over time is also limited. In the present study, repeated assessments of 4- to 6-year-old children's (N = 49, mean age = 5 years 10 months) performance on a go/no-go task were collected to examine developmental changes in error processing and response inhibition across 6 months. Data revealed the presence of both the ERN and Pe at each time point, but also showed individual differences in the test-retest associations for each component. Behavioral changes in response inhibition on the go/no-go task and a standardized measure of attentional control were associated with changes in electrophysiological measures of error processing. Additional analyses comparing children of the same age who had completed the go/no-go task once to those who participated longitudinally revealed that, with repeated assessments, children exhibited behavioral changes in performance that could be attributed to both development and to the effects of practice, such as strategic accommodation.

Unpredictability increases the error-related negativity in children and adolescents

The error-related negativity (ERN) is a response-locked component in the event-related potential observed asa negative deflection 50-100ms following the commission of an error. An unpredictable context has been shown to potentiate amygdala activity, attentional bias toward threat, and the ERN in adults. However, it is unclear whether the impact of unpredictability on the ERN is also observed in children and adolescents. In a sample of 32 9-17year-old participants, we examined the influence of a task-irrelevant unpredictable context on neural response to errors. Participants completed a flanker task designed to elicit the ERN, while simultaneously being exposed to task-irrelevant tone sequences with either predictable or unpredictable timing. Unpredictable tones were rated as more anxiety provoking compared to the predictable tones. Fewer errors were made during unpredictable relative to predictable tones. Moreover, the ERN-but not the correct response negativity (CRN) or stimulus-locked N200-was potentiated during the unpredictable relative to predictable tones. The current study replicates and extends previous findings by demonstrating that an unpredictable context can increase task performance and selectively potentiate the ERN in children and adolescents. ERN magnitude can be modulated by environmental factors suggesting enhanced error processing in unpredictable contexts.

Intelligence and Neurophysiological Markers of Error Monitoring Relate to Children's Intellectual Humility

This study explored developmental and individual differences in intellectual humility (IH) among 127 children ages 6-8. IH was operationalized as children's assessment of their knowledge and willingness to delegate scientific questions to experts. Children completed measures of IH, theory of mind, motivational framework, and intelligence, and neurophysiological measures indexing early (error-related negativity [ERN]) and later (error positivity [Pe]) error-monitoring processes related to cognitive control. Children's knowledge self-assessment correlated with question delegation, and older children showed greater IH than younger children. Greater IH was associated with higher intelligence but not with social cognition or motivational framework. ERN related to self-assessment, whereas Pe related to question delegation. Thus, children show separable epistemic and social components of IH that may differentially contribute to metacognition and learning.

Neural and Cognitive Factors Influencing the Emergence of Psychopathology: Insights From the Bucharest Early Intervention Project

The adverse effects of institutionalized care and psychosocial deprivation have been documented for more than 100 years. Children who have been raised in institutions are at heightened risk of developing internalizing and externalizing disorders. Given the profound biological and psychological effects of institutional rearing, identifying neural and cognitive factors that influence the emergence of psychopathology in institutionalized children is of great interest. Using data from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, a randomized control study on the effects of institutional care and a foster care intervention, this article examines two factors that appear to influence the emergence of psychopathology in children who have been institutionalized-neural indices of cognitive control and visual attention biases.

Intergenerational associations in executive function between mothers and children in the context of risk

Executive functioning (EF) is critical for school readiness and other important life skills. Previous investigations have often neglected the important influence of parental EF skills in shaping their own children's EF. This study attempted to replicate recent empirical work that has shown that maternal EF is positively related to child EF. An ecological theoretical framework was used to examine the maternal EF-child EF link in family environments characterized by significant risk and socioeconomic adversity. Data from 38 mother-child dyads revealed that larger maternal working memory capacity was associated with greater child accuracy and slower reaction times on a child-friendly Go/No-Go task of response inhibition but not on an Emotional Go/No-Go task. This finding suggests that in contexts of risk and adversity, slower reaction times, instead of reflecting weaker EF skills, might reflect an adaptive skill-that is, exercising appropriate caution and careful responding on a challenging task. Results provide additional evidence of an intergenerational link between maternal EF and child EF and yield new insights into the nature of EF in adverse environments.

Event-related potential measures of executive functioning from preschool to adolescence

Executive functions are a collection of cognitive abilities necessary for behavioural control and regulation, and are important for school success. Executive deficits are common across acquired and developmental disorders in childhood and beyond. This review aims to summarize how studies using event-related potential (ERP) can provide insight into mechanisms underpinning how executive functions develop in children from preschool to adolescence. We specifically focus on ERP components that are considered to be well-established markers of executive functioning, including the ability to resist distraction (inhibition, N200), hold scenes in mind (visuospatial working memory, contralateral delay activity), attend to specific stimuli (information processing, P300), follow rules (response monitoring, error-related negativity [ERN], and error-related positivity [Pe]), and adjust to feedback (outcome monitoring, feedback-related negativity). All of these components show developmental changes from preschool to adolescence, in line with behavioural and neuroimaging findings. These ERP markers also show altered developmental trajectories in the context of atypical executive functions. As an example, deficits in executive function are prominently implicated in attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder. Therefore, this review highlights ERP studies that have investigated the above ERP components in this population. Overall, ERPs provide a useful marker for the development and dysfunction of executive skills, and provide insight into their neurophysiological basis.

Does One Year of Schooling Improve Children's Cognitive Control and Alter Associated Brain Activation?

The "5-to-7-year shift" refers to the remarkable improvements observed in children's cognitive abilities during this age range, particularly in their ability to exert control over their attention and behavior-that is, their executive functioning. As this shift coincides with school entry, the extent to which it is driven by brain maturation or by exposure to formal schooling is unclear. In this longitudinal study, we followed 5-year-olds born close to the official cutoff date for entry into first grade and compared those who subsequently entered first grade that year with those who remained in kindergarten, which is more play oriented. The first graders made larger improvements in accuracy on an executive-function test over the year than did the kindergartners. In an independent functional MRI task, we found that the first graders, compared with the kindergartners, exhibited a greater increase in activation of right posterior parietal cortex, a region previously implicated in sustained attention; increased activation in this region was correlated with the improvement in accuracy. These results reveal how the environmental context of formal schooling shapes brain mechanisms underlying improved focus on cognitively demanding tasks.

Pubertal development and anxiety risk independently relate to startle habituation during fear conditioning in 8-14 year-old females

Reduced habituation to aversive stimuli has been observed during adolescence and may reflect an underlying mechanism of vulnerability for anxiety disorders. This study examined the startle reflex during a fear-learning task in 54 8-14-year-old girls. We examined the relationship between mean startle, startle habituation, pubertal development, and two measures linked to risk for anxiety: behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and the error-related negativity (ERN). Puberty, BIS, and the ERN were unrelated to mean startle; however, each measure modulated startle habituation. Greater pubertal development was associated with reduced startle habituation across the CS+ and CS-. Higher BIS related to a larger ERN, and both were associated with reduced startle habituation specifically to the CS+. All effects were independent of each other. Findings suggest that puberty alters habituation of defense system activation to both threat and safety cues, and this is independent of risk for anxiety, which uniquely impacts habituation to threat cues.

Neural evidence for enhanced attention to mistakes among school-aged children with a growth mindset

Individuals who believe intelligence is malleable (a growth mindset) are better able to bounce back from failures than those who believe intelligence is immutable. Event-related potential (ERP) studies among adults suggest this resilience is related to increased attention allocation to errors. Whether this mechanism is present among young children remains unknown, however. We therefore evaluated error-monitoring ERPs among 123 school-aged children while they completed a child-friendly go/no-go task. As expected, higher attention allocation to errors (indexed by larger error positivity, Pe) predicted higher post-error accuracy. Moreover, replicating adult work, growth mindset was related to greater attention to mistakes (larger Pe) and higher post-error accuracy. Exploratory moderation analyses revealed that growth mindset increased post-error accuracy for children who did not attend to their errors. Together, these results demonstrate the combined role of growth mindset and neural mechanisms of attention allocation in bouncing back after failure among young children.

Gender differences in reward and punishment for monetary and social feedback in children: An ERP study

Gender differences in feedback processing have been observed among adolescents and adults through event-related potentials. However, information on whether and how this feedback processing is affected by feedback valence, feedback type, and individual sensitivity in reward/punishment among children remains minimal. In this study, we used a guessing game task coupled with electroencephalography to investigate gender differences in feedback processing, in which feedback to reward and punishment was presented in the context of monetary and social conditions. Results showed that boys were less likely to switch their response after punishment, had generally less feedback-related negativity (FRN) amplitude, and longer FRN latency in monetary and punishment conditions than girls. Moreover, FRN for monetary punishment, which is related to individual difference in reward sensitivity, was observed only in girls. The study provides gender-specific evidence for the neural processing of feedback, which may offer educational guidance for appropriate feedback for girls and boys.

ERN, theta power, and risk for anxiety problems in preschoolers

The Error Related Negativity (ERN) is a neural marker of performance monitoring that has been inconsistently linked to anxiety risk in children. One avenue for understanding inconsistencies is to investigate other neural dynamics linked to ERN. In this study, we investigated interactions between ERN and power in the theta frequency band, which is associated with attentional control and theorized to contribute ERN, in association with childhood anxiety risk. Fifty-nine 3-year-old children provided usable EEG data during a modified go/no-go task. Associations between ERN and anxious behaviors in preschoolers were moderated by theta power during incorrect trials. Specifically, when theta power was low, greater ERN predicted more social withdrawal; when theta power was high, ERN and social withdrawal were unrelated. Our findings suggest that ERN and theta may jointly contribute to anxiety risk in early childhood.

Motivational processes from expectancy-value theory are associated with variability in the error positivity in young children

Motivational beliefs and values influence how children approach challenging activities. The current study explored motivational processes from an expectancy-value theory framework by studying children's mistakes and their responses to them by focusing on two event-related potential (ERP) components: the error-related negativity (ERN) and the error positivity (Pe). Motivation was assessed using a child-friendly challenge puzzle task and a brief interview measure prior to ERP testing. Data from 50 4- to 6-year-old children revealed that greater perceived competence beliefs were related to a larger Pe, whereas stronger intrinsic task value beliefs were associated with a smaller Pe. Motivation was unrelated to the ERN. Individual differences in early motivational processes may reflect electrophysiological activity related to conscious error awareness.

Reciprocal Effects of Self-Regulation, Semantic Knowledge, and Reading Comprehension in Early Elementary School

Many assume that cognitive and linguistic processes, such as semantic knowledge (SK) and self-regulation (SR), subserve learned skills like reading. However, complex models of interacting and bootstrapping effects of SK, SR, instruction, and reading hypothesize reciprocal effects. Testing this "lattice" model with children (n = 852) followed from first to second grade (5.9-10.4 years of age) revealed reciprocal effects for reading and SR, and reading and SK, but not SR and SK. More effective literacy instruction reduced reading stability over time. Findings elucidate the synergistic and reciprocal effects of learning to read on other important linguistic, self-regulatory, and cognitive processes; the value of using complex models of development to inform intervention design; and how learned skills may influence development during middle childhood.

A Systematic Review of the Literature Linking Neural Correlates of Feedback Processing to Learning

Abstract. Learning from errors and feedback is an important topic in the Education Sciences as it relates as much to student achievement, teacher development, and learning in general. Its ramifications connect with reflective practice, inhibition of spontaneous and erroneous answers, conceptual change, self-regulated learning, assessment, and metacognition. Research in education has studied the use of feedback from different perspectives (e.g., cognitivism, behaviorism, socioculturalism, constructivism) but has rarely considered the way the brain processes feedback for learning. Therefore, this article reviews the scientific literature linking neural correlates of feedback processing to general or specific learning outcomes, published from 2005 to 2015. From a total of 229 search results, 30 scientific publications were selected according to predefined selection criteria.

Deficits in error monitoring are associated with externalizing but not internalizing behaviors among children with a history of institutionalization

BACKGROUND

Children raised in institutions are at increased risk of developing internalizing and externalizing problems. However, not all children raised in institutions develop psychopathology. Deficits in error monitoring may be one risk pathway for children with a history of institutionalization given that these skills are related to both internalizing and externalizing psychiatric disorders. Error monitoring and the neural circuitry that supports it have a protracted developmental time course and are highly susceptible to the effects of adversity. As such, they may play an important moderating role between a history of institutional rearing and subsequent psychopathology.

METHODS

We investigated the impact of psychosocial deprivation on behavioral and neural responses (event-related potentials: ERPs) to a Flanker task assessing error monitoring and the relations between these measures and psychopathology for 12-year-old children in the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP). The BEIP involves two groups of institutionalized children randomly assigned in infancy to receive either a foster care intervention (FCG) or care as usual (CAUG).

RESULTS

Children who experienced institutional care, particularly those in the CAUG, showed perturbed behavioral performance and ERPs on the Flanker task. Additionally, an ERP measure of error monitoring [error-related negativity (ERN)] moderated the relations between time spent in institutions and externalizing and ADHD behaviors. When the amplitude of the ERN was smaller, time spent in institutional care was positively related to ADHD and externalizing behaviors, whereas time spent in institutions was unrelated to externalizing problems when children evidenced a larger ERN. Neural correlates of error monitoring did not moderate the relations between time spent in institutionalized care and internalizing behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS

Exposure to institutional care early in life may affect brain circuitry associated with error monitoring. Perturbations in this neural circuitry in combination with psychosocial deprivation are possibly a risk pathway associated with the development of externalizing and ADHD problems.

Early math and reading achievement are associated with the error positivity

Executive functioning (EF) and motivation are associated with academic achievement and error-related ERPs. The present study explores whether early academic skills predict variability in the error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe). Data from 113 three- to seven-year-old children in a Go/No-Go task revealed that stronger early reading and math skills predicted a larger Pe. Closer examination revealed that this relation was quadratic and significant for children performing at or near grade level, but not significant for above-average achievers. Early academics did not predict the ERN. These findings suggest that the Pe – which reflects individual differences in motivational processes as well as attention – may be associated with early academic achievement.

EEG Asymmetry and ERN: Behavioral Outcomes in Preschoolers

Research has documented reciprocal influences between approach-related and inhibition-related neural activity in adults. However, associations between neural systems of approach and inhibition have not been tested in children. It is thus unclear whether these links are present early in life and whether associations between neural systems of approach and inhibition have long-term behavioral consequences. To address these gaps in the literature, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to examine associations between approach-related neural activity (i.e., hemispheric asymmetry) and inhibition-related neural activity (i.e., error-related negativity [ERN]) in preschool-aged children. Furthermore, we explored whether interactions between asymmetry and ERN predicted social inhibition, a precursor to anxiety problems, or symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) six months later. Similar to research on adults, greater left asymmetry (i.e., greater approach-related neural activity) was correlated with reduced ERN amplitude (i.e., weaker inhibition-related neural activity). The interactive effect of asymmetry and ERN amplitude did not predict ADHD symptoms, but did predict social inhibition. When ERN was greater, less left asymmetry was associated with higher levels of social inhibition. Results were most prominent at parietal EEG sites. Implications for understanding the development of the overlap in neural systems of approach and inhibition are discussed.

Emotional Processing and Attention Control Impairments in Children with Anxiety: An Integrative Review of Event-Related Potentials Findings

Anxiety disorders in adults have been associated with biased processing of emotional information which may be due to a deficit in attentional control. This deficit leads to an hypervigilance and a selective attention toward threatening information. Event-related potentials (ERPs) have been used to study this topic in anxious adults. Similar biases have been reported in children with anxiety but researches investigating the ERPs components underpinning these biases are more scarce. However, the understanding of the neural correlates of attentional biases in anxious children seem quite important since they could play a role in the etiology and the maintenance of this disorder. This review summarizes the results of researches having used ERPs to index emotional processing and attention control in children suffering from anxiety. We will focus on the P1, indexing basic visual perceptual processing, the N2, thought to reflect cognitive control process, the P3 typically associated with response inhibition, and the late positive potential (LPP) that indicates sustained attention toward motivationally salient stimuli. We will also examine the error-related negativity (ERN) that indexes monitoring system for detecting errors. Electro-physiological studies generally reported increased amplitudes of these components in anxious children, even when they did not differ from typically developing children at a behavioral level. These results suggest diminished cognitive control that influences children's selective attention mechanisms toward threatening information. Theoretical perspectives and implications for future researches will be discussed in the framework of current models of childhood anxiety.

Developmental Changes in Cross-Situational Word Learning: The Inverse Effect of Initial Accuracy

Intuitively, the accuracy of initial word-referent mappings should be positively correlated with the outcome of learning. Yet recent evidence suggests an inverse effect of initial accuracy in adults, whereby greater accuracy of initial mappings is associated with poorer outcomes in a cross-situational learning task. Here, we examine the impact of initial accuracy on 4-year-olds, 10-year-olds, and adults. For half of the participants most word-referent mappings were initially correct and for the other half most mappings were initially incorrect. Initial accuracy was positively related to learning outcomes in 4-year-olds, had no effect on 10-year-olds' learning, and was inversely related to learning outcomes in adults. Examination of item learning patterns revealed item interdependence for adults and 4-year-olds but not 10-year-olds. These findings point to a qualitative change in language learning processes over development.

Neurophysiological evidence of an association between cognitive control and defensive reactivity processes in young children

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ERN, Pe, startle reflex, and parietal asymmetry were measured in young children.

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Reduced ERN was related to a larger startle and greater right parietal activity.

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Age predicted smaller startle, larger ERN, and better behavioral performance.

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Age did not moderate the association between ERN and startle.

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Age did not moderate the association between ERN and parietal asymmetry.

Interactions between cognitive control and affective processes, such as defensive reactivity, are intimately involved in healthy and unhealthy human development. However, cognitive control and defensive reactivity processes are often studied in isolation and rarely examined in early childhood. To address these gaps, we examined the relationships between multiple neurophysiological measures of cognitive control and defensive reactivity in young children. Specifically, we assessed two event-related potentials thought to index cognitive control processes – the error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe) – measured across two tasks, and two markers of defensive reactivity processes – startle reflex and resting parietal asymmetry – in a sample of 3- to 7-year old children. Results revealed that measures of cognitive control and defensive reactivity were related such that evidence of poor cognitive control (smaller ERN) was associated with high defensive reactivity (larger startle and greater right relative to left parietal activity). The strength of associations between the ERN and measures of defensive reactivity did not vary by age, providing evidence that poor cognitive control relates to greater defensive reactivity across early childhood years.

Individual differences in fifth graders' reading and language predict their comprehension monitoring development: An eye-movement study

In this study, we investigated fifth-graders' (n=52) fall literacy, academic language, and motivation, and how these skills predicted fall and spring comprehension monitoring on an eye movement task. Comprehension monitoring was defined as the identification and repair of misunderstandings when reading text. In the eye movement task, children read two sentences; the second included either a plausible or implausible word in the context of the first sentence. Stronger readers had shorter reading times overall suggesting faster processing of text. Generally fifth-graders reacted to the implausible word (i.e., longer gaze duration on the implausible v. the plausible word, which reflects lexical access). Students with stronger academic language, compared to those with weaker academic language, generally spent more time re-reading the implausible target compared to the plausible target. This difference increased from fall to spring. Results support the centrality of academic language for meaning integration, setting standards of coherence, and utilizing comprehension repair strategies.

Comparative survey of go/no-go results to identify the inhibitory control ability change of Japanese children

This research, conducted in 1998 and 2008, uses go/no-go data to investigate the fundamentals of cognitive functioning in the inhibitory control ability of Japanese children. 844 subjects from kindergarten to junior high school participated in go/no-go task experiments. Performance of go/no-go tasks, which are frequently used to investigate response inhibition, measures a variety of cognitive components besides response inhibition. With normal brain development, the ability to inhibit responses improves substantially in adolescence. An increase over time in the error rate during the go/no-go tasks of subjects of the same age indicates that these processes are not functioning properly. Comparisons between the 1998 and 2008 data revealed several differences in error rates. In 2008, there were increases in the number of errors in groups from each age range. The comparison also revealed that overall error rates peaked at later ages in the 2008 subjects. Taken together, these results show changing conditions in the inhibitory function of the prefrontal cortex. However, the reason for these changing conditions remains unclear. While a lifestyle questionnaire revealed several differences in factors such as bedtimes and hours spent watching TV, analysis did not reveal a significant correlation.

The role of the medial frontal cortex in the development of cognitive and social-affective performance monitoring

Adolescence is a time of many cognitive and social-affective changes that are important for rapid behavioral adjustment to a variety of environmental demands and social contexts. Performance monitoring is one of the most important processes for behavioral adjustment; it allows individuals to evaluate outcomes of actions and change behavior accordingly. Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that dorsal and ventral subregions of the medial frontal cortex are differentially engaged in performance monitoring, depending on the cognitive or social-affective dimensions of a task. Based on a review of neuroimaging, ERP, and heart rate studies, the implications of these modality-dependent contributions are discussed for the development of performance monitoring in adolescence.