The error-related negativity as a neuromarker of risk or resilience in young children

Anxiety Symptoms in Young Children Are Associated With a Maladaptive Neurobehavioral Profile of Error Responding

BACKGROUND

Childhood anxiety symptoms have been linked to alterations in cognitive control and error processing, but the diverse findings on neural markers of anxiety in young children, which vary by severity and developmental stage, suggest the need for a wider perspective. Integrating new neural markers with established ones, such as the error-related negativity, the error positivity, and frontal theta, could clarify this association. Error-related alpha suppression (ERAS) is a recently proposed index of post-error attentional engagement that has not yet been explored in children with anxiety.

METHODS

To identify neurobehavioral profiles of anxiety in young children by integrating ERAS with the error-related negativity, error positivity, frontal theta, and post-error performance indicators, we employed K-means clustering as an unsupervised multimetric approach. For this, we first aimed to confirm the presence and scalp distribution of ERAS in young children. We performed event-related potentials and spectral analysis of electroencephalogram data collected during a Go/NoGo task (Zoo Task) completed by 181 children (ages 4-7 years; 103 female) who were sampled from across the clinical-to-nonclinical range of anxiety severity using the Child Behavior Checklist.

RESULTS

Results confirmed ERAS, showing lower post-error alpha power, maximal suppression at occipital sites, and less ERAS in younger children. K-means clustering revealed that high anxiety and younger age were associated with reduction in ERAS and frontal theta, less negative error-related negativity, enlarged error positivity, more post-error slowing, and reduced post-error accuracy.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings indicate a link between ERAS, maladaptive neural mechanisms of attention elicited by errors, and anxiety in young children, suggesting that anxiety may arise from or interfere with attention and error processing.

Intergenerational transmission of cognitive control capacity among children at risk for depression

A maternal history of major depressive disorder (MDD) is a well-known risk factor for depression in offspring. However, the mechanism through which familial risk is transmitted remains unclear. Cognitive control alterations are common in MDD, and thus, the current study investigated whether altered control capacity is transmitted intergenerationally, and whether it then contributes to the developmental pathways through which depression is passed from mothers to children. We recruited children (N = 65) ages 4-10-years-old, of which 47.7 % (n = 31) reported a maternal history of MDD, and their biological mother (N = 65). Children performed a child-friendly Go/NoGo task while electroencephalography (EEG) data were recorded, and mothers performed a Flanker task. Children exhibited heightened sensitivity to error versus correct responses, which was characterized by an error-related negativity (ERN), error positivity (Pe) as well as prominent delta and frontal midline theta (FMT) oscillations. Interestingly, worse maternal performance on the Flanker task associated with an increased Go/NoGo error rate and a smaller ERN and Pe in children. However, there was no association between maternal or child control indices with child depression symptoms. Our results suggest a familial influence of cognitive control capacity in mother-child dyads, but it remains unclear whether this confers risk for depressive symptoms in children. Further research is necessary to determine whether alterations in cognitive control over time may influence symptom development in at-risk children.

Type of Trauma Exposure Impacts Neural Reactivity to Errors

Abstract. Studies suggest that individuals with a history of trauma exposure display abnormal reactivity to threat, though the pattern of findings across prior studies has been inconsistent. At least two factors likely contribute to previous discrepant findings: (1) the type of index trauma event and (2) the type of threat paradigm. Accordingly, the current study aimed to examine the impact of trauma type on a specific psychophysiological index of threat sensitivity – error negativity (Ne), also described as error-related negativity (ERN). Young adults were classified into three groups: lifetime history of interpersonal trauma (i.e., sexual assault, physical assault, or immediate family violence; n = 30), lifetime history of a non-interpersonal trauma (e.g., accidents, natural disasters; n = 30), or no lifetime history of trauma ( n = 64). All participants completed a well-validated flanker task designed to elicit the Ne/ERN during continuous electroencephalographic (EEG) data collection. Results indicated that individuals with non-interpersonal trauma exposure displayed reduced Ne/ERN amplitude compared with the other two groups (who did not differ from each other). Broadly, these findings highlight the importance of trauma type and theory suggesting different forms of trauma may result in different neurobiological profiles. These findings also add to a growing literature indicating that non-interpersonal traumas may be uniquely associated with blunted threat sensitivity and deficiencies in self-monitoring.

The error-related negativity as a neuromarker of risk or resilience in young children

INTRODUCTION

The error-related negativity (ERN) is a neural response that reflects error monitoring. Contradictorily, an enlarged (more negative) ERN has been cited as both a risk factor and a protective factor, which hinders its utility as a predictive indicator. The aim of the current study was to examine the associations between ERN measured in early childhood with the development of cognitive control (CC), emotion regulation, and internalizing/externalizing symptoms over 1-2 years.

METHODS

When children were ages 5-7, EEG was collected during a Go/No-Go task. A subset of the original participants (n = 30) were selected based on their baseline ERN in an extreme-case design: half with high-amplitude ERN, matched by age and sex with another group with low-amplitude ERN.

RESULTS

At follow-up, children in the High-Amplitude group showed better executive function, less self-reported anxiety and depression, less affect dysregulation, more parent-rated CC, less lability/negativity, and fewer parent-reported externalizing problems. Many results held even when accounting for baseline levels. Further, emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between the ERN and both anxiety and externalizing problems, while CC mediated the ERN's relationship with externalizing problems only.

CONCLUSIONS

These results can inform identification and intervention efforts for children at risk for psychopathology.