ERP correlates of error monitoring in 10-year olds are related to socialization

Error-related brain activity shapes the association between trait neuroticism and internalizing symptomatology in two tasks

The current study examined how individual differences in error-related brain activity might moderate the association between high trait neuroticism and internalizing symptoms. Data were collected from a sample of high-achieving young adults (N = 188) as part of a larger study on risk versus resiliency for psychopathology. Participants completed two behavioral tasks to elicit the error-related negativity (ERN): an arrow Flanker task and a Go/No-Go task. Analyses were constrained to two internalizing symptom dimensions of checking behavior and irritability. Contrary to expectations, ERN amplitude was not related to symptom severity at the bivariate level. However, ERN amplitude moderated the association between trait neuroticism and symptoms of ill temper, such that the neuroticism-irritability association was strongest among individuals with a blunted ERN. In addition, this finding was relatively consistent across tasks and across two complementary methods of scoring the ERN, suggesting an effect of ERN variance that is shared between tasks and that is relatively robust regarding processing differences. In all, the current study represents the first attempt to investigate how the ERN interacts with trait neuroticism to predict transdiagnostic symptom dimensions in adulthood.

Interpersonal relationships modulate subjective ratings and electrophysiological responses of moral evaluations

This study explored how interpersonal relationships modulate moral evaluations in moral dilemmas. Participants rated moral acceptability in response to altruistic (prescriptive) and selfish (proscriptive) behavior conducted by allocators (i.e., a friend or stranger), toward the participants themselves or another stranger in a modified Dictator Game (Experiments 1 and 2). Event-related potential (ERP) data were recorded as participants observed the allocators' behavior (Experiment 2). Moral acceptability ratings showed that when the allocator was a friend, participants evaluated the friend's altruistic and selfish behavior toward another stranger as being less morally acceptable than when their friend showed the respective behavior toward the participants themselves. The ERP results showed that participants exhibited more negative medial frontal negativity (MFN) amplitude whether observing a friend's altruistic or selfish behavior toward a stranger (vs. participant oneself), indicating that friends' altruistic and selfish behaviors toward strangers (vs. participants) were processed as being less acceptable at the earlier and semi-automatic processing stage in brains. However, this effect did not emerge when the allocator was a stranger in subjective ratings and MFN results. In the later-occurring P3 component, no interpersonal relationship modulation occurred in moral evaluations. These findings suggest that interpersonal relationships affect moral evaluations from the second-party perspective.

Post-error slowing in anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders

Altered brain response to errors in anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD) suggests cognitive control abnormalities across both types of illness, but behavioral metrics of cognitive control function have yet to be compared in patients selected from these different diagnostic categories. Thus, we examined post-error slowing (PES), a behavioral adjustment that typically occurs after a mistake, in children and adolescents with and without a primary anxiety disorder (N = 103 anxiety and N = 28 healthy controls) and adolescents and adults with and without OCD (N = 118 OCD and N = 60 healthy controls) using a go/no-go task. Primary analyses tested for differences in PES between diagnostic groups (anxiety, OCD, healthy), controlling for age, overall reaction time, and overall accuracy. Results indicated that patients with anxiety disorders exhibited more post-error slowing than both patients with OCD and healthy volunteers. In contrast, participants with OCD did not differ from healthy volunteers in post-error slowing. In subgroup analyses restricted to adolescent participants (ages 13-17 years), more post-error slowing was observed in the anxiety disorders group compared with either the OCD or healthy groups. These data suggest that excessive post-error slowing, an index of behavioral adjustment following errors, may uniquely characterize patients with anxiety disorders relative to healthy individuals and those with OCD.

Shared and unique neural mechanisms underlying pediatric trichotillomania and obsessive compulsive disorder

BACKGROUND

Little is known about the neural underpinnings of pediatric trichotillomania (TTM). We examined error-related negativity (ERN)-amplitude and theta-EEG power differences among youth with TTM, OCD, and healthy controls (HC).

METHODS

Forty channel EEG was recorded from 63 pediatric participants (22 with TTM, 22 with OCD, and 19 HC) during the Eriksen Flanker Task. EEG data from inhibitory control were used to derive estimates of ERN amplitude and event-related spectral power associated with motor inhibition.

RESULTS

TTM and HC were similar in brain activity patterns in frontal and central regions and TTM and OCD were similar in the parietal region. Frontal ERN-amplitude was significantly larger in OCD relative to TTM and HC, who did not differ from each other. The TTM group had higher theta power compared to OCD in frontal and central regions, and higher theta than both comparison groups in right motor cortex and superior parietal regions. Within TTM, flanker task performance was correlated with EEG activity in frontal, central, and motor cortices whereas global functioning and impairment were associated with EEG power in bilateral motor and parietal cortices.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings are discussed in terms of shared and unique neural mechanisms in TTM and OCD and treatment implications.

Developmental pathways to social anxiety and irritability: The role of the ERN

Early behaviors that differentiate later biomarkers for psychopathology can guide preventive efforts while also facilitating pathophysiological research. We tested whether error-related negativity (ERN) moderates the link between early behavior and later psychopathology in two early childhood phenotypes: behavioral inhibition and irritability. From ages 2 to 7 years, children (n = 291) were assessed longitudinally for behavioral inhibition (BI) and irritability. Behavioral inhibition was assessed via maternal report and behavioral responses to novelty. Childhood irritability was assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist. At age 12, an electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded while children performed a flanker task to measure ERN, a neural indicator of error monitoring. Clinical assessments of anxiety and irritability were conducted using questionnaires (i.e., Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders and Affective Reactivity Index) and clinical interviews. Error monitoring interacted with early BI and early irritability to predict later psychopathology. Among children with high BI, an enhanced ERN predicted greater social anxiety at age 12. In contrast, children with high childhood irritability and blunted ERN predicted greater irritability at age 12. This converges with previous work and provides novel insight into the specificity of pathways associated with psychopathology.

Do sensorimotor perturbations to standing balance elicit an error-related negativity?

Detecting and correcting errors is essential to successful action. Studies on response monitoring have examined scalp ERPs following the commission of motor slips in speeded-response tasks, focusing on a frontocentral negativity (i.e., error-related negativity or ERN). Sensorimotor neurophysiologists investigating cortical monitoring of reactive balance recovery behavior observe a strikingly similar pattern of scalp ERPs following externally imposed postural errors, including a brief frontocentral negativity that has been referred to as the balance N1. We integrate and review relevant literature from these discrepant fields to suggest shared underlying mechanisms and potential benefits of collaboration across fields. Unlike the cognitive tasks leveraged to study the ERN, balance perturbations afford precise experimental control of postural errors to elicit balance N1s that are an order of magnitude larger than the ERN and drive robust and well-characterized adaptation of behavior within an experimental session. Many factors that modulate the ERN, including motivation, perceived consequences, perceptual salience, expectation, development, and aging, are likewise known to modulate the balance N1. We propose that the ERN and balance N1 reflect common neural activity for detecting errors. Collaboration across fields could help clarify the functional significance of the ERN and poorly understood interactions between motor and cognitive impairments.

Taking Others as a Mirror: Contingent Social Comparison Promotes Task Engagement

Social comparison implemented in an informational while not controlling manner can be motivating. In order to directly examine the effect of contingent social comparison on one’s task engagement, we manipulated social comparison in an experimental study and adopted an electrophysiological approach to measure one’ task engagement. In this experiment, we engaged the participants in a modified stop-watch (SW) task which requires a button press to stop the watch within a given time interval and instructed the participants to either play alone or simultaneously play with a same-sex counterpart. In the latter case, they could freely solicit feedback on their counterparts’ performance besides their own. Enlarged stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) and error-related negativity (ERN) were observed in the two-player condition, indicating strengthened anticipatory attention toward the task-onset stimulus at the pre-task stage and enhanced performance surveillance during task execution. As a complement, self-report data suggested that the participants were more intrinsically motivated to engage in the SW task when contingent social comparison was present. Thus, converging electrophysiological and behavioral evidences suggested the pivotal role of contingent social comparison in promoting self-directed task engagement.

Using trial-level data and multilevel modeling to investigate within-task change in event-related potentials

EEG data, and specifically the ERP, provide psychologists with the power to examine quickly occurring cognitive processes at the native temporal resolution at which they occur. Despite the advantages conferred by ERPs to examine processes at different points in time, ERP researchers commonly ignore the trial-to-trial temporal dimension by collapsing across trials of similar types (i.e., the signal averaging approach) because of constraints imposed by repeated measures ANOVA. Here, we present the advantages of using multilevel modeling (MLM) to examine trial-level data to investigate change in neurocognitive processes across the course of an experiment. Two examples are presented to illustrate the usefulness of this technique. The first demonstrates decreasing differentiation in N170 amplitude to faces of different races across the course of a race categorization task. The second demonstrates attenuation of the ERN as participants commit more errors within a task designed to measure implicit racial bias. Although the examples presented here are within the realm of social psychology, the use of MLM to analyze trial-level EEG data has the potential to contribute to a number of different theoretical domains within psychology.

Disrupted Executive Function and Aggression in Individuals With a History of Adverse Childhood Experiences: An Event-Related Potential Study

Here, we explored the functional and neural mechanisms underlying aggression related to adverse childhood experiences. We assessed behavioral performance and event-related potentials during a go/no-go and N-back paradigm. The participants were 15 individuals with adverse childhood experiences and high aggression (ACE + HA), 13 individuals with high aggression (HA), and 14 individuals with low aggression and no adverse childhood experiences (control group). The P2 latency (initial perceptual processing) was longer in the ACE + HA group for the go trials. The HA group had a larger N2 (response inhibition) than controls for the no-go trials. Error-related negativity (error processing) in the ACE + HA and HA groups was smaller than that of controls for false alarm go trials. Lastly, the ACE + HA group had shorter error-related negativity latencies than controls for false alarm trials. Overall, our results reveal the neural correlates of executive function in aggressive individuals with ACEs.

Processing expected and unexpected uncertainty is modulated by fearless-dominance personality traits - An exploratory ERP study on feedback processing

Expectancy and certainty regarding an outcome are important factors during performance monitoring. However, the separate contributions of expected and unexpected uncertainty on different measures of performance monitoring, including feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P300 components, are not well established. The current study investigated their relationship to fearless-dominance, a personality construct described by high social potency and low anxiety. Accurately predicting environmental outcomes in certain and uncertain situations might be a prerequisite of social potency, therefore it may be associated with increased performance monitoring and its ERP correlates. Consequently, expected-uncertain and unexpected-uncertain feedback (by violating previously learned certain and expected feedback) was introduced in addition to expected-certain feedback in healthy individuals during a probabilistic gambling task. In both FRN and P300 components, difference waves were more pronounced for unexpected-uncertain and expected-uncertain compared to expected-certain feedback. Moreover, more fearless-dominant individuals showed diminished feedback processing specifically in expected-uncertain trials, but concurrently enhanced attentional processing in expected-certain trials. These findings indicate adaptive and situation-appropriate utilization of performance monitoring resources in individuals with more pronounced fearless-dominance personality traits. The results indicate that a precise differentiation of expected and unexpected uncertainty in fearless-dominant individuals is mandatory in order to better understand the underlying personality construct and related behavior.

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.

Acetaminophen attenuates error evaluation in cortex

Acetaminophen has recently been recognized as having impacts that extend into the affective domain. In particular, double blind placebo controlled trials have revealed that acetaminophen reduces the magnitude of reactivity to social rejection, frustration, dissonance and to both negatively and positively valenced attitude objects. Given this diversity of consequences, it has been proposed that the psychological effects of acetaminophen may reflect a widespread blunting of evaluative processing. We tested this hypothesis using event-related potentials (ERPs). Sixty-two participants received acetaminophen or a placebo in a double-blind protocol and completed the Go/NoGo task. Participants' ERPs were observed following errors on the Go/NoGo task, in particular the error-related negativity (ERN; measured at FCz) and error-related positivity (Pe; measured at Pz and CPz). Results show that acetaminophen inhibits the Pe, but not the ERN, and the magnitude of an individual's Pe correlates positively with omission errors, partially mediating the effects of acetaminophen on the error rate. These results suggest that recently documented affective blunting caused by acetaminophen may best be described as an inhibition of evaluative processing. They also contribute to the growing work suggesting that the Pe is more strongly associated with conscious awareness of errors relative to the ERN.

An event-related source localization study of response monitoring and social impairments in autism spectrum disorder

A number of studies suggest anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which might underlie response monitoring and social impairments exhibited by children and adolescents with ASD. The goal of the present study was to extend this work by examining error and correct response monitoring using event-related potentials (ERN, Pe, CRN) and LORETA source localization in high functioning adults with ASD and controls. Adults with ASD showed reduced ERN and Pe amplitudes and reduced rostral ACC activation compared with controls. Adults with ASD also showed less differentiation between error and correct ERP components. Social impairments and higher overall autism symptoms were related to reduced rostral ACC activity at the time of the ERN, particularly in adults with ASD. These findings suggest that reduced ACC activity may reflect a putative brain mechanism involved in the origins and maintenance of social impairments and raise the possibility of the presence of stable brain-behavior relation impairment across development in some individuals with ASD.

The costs and benefits of self-monitoring for higher functioning children and adolescents with autism

The ability to regulate behaviors and emotions depends in part on the ability to flexibly monitor one's own progress toward a goal. Atypical patterns of response monitoring have been reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In the current study we examined the error related negativity (ERN), an electrophysiological index of response monitoring, in relation to behavioral, social cognitive, and emotional presentation in higher functioning children (8-16 years) diagnosed with autism (HFA: N = 38) and an age- and IQ-matched sample of children without autism (COM: N = 36). Both HFA and COM participants displayed larger amplitude responses to error compared to correct response trials and these amplitudes did not differ by diagnostic group. For participants with HFA, larger ERN amplitudes were associated with more parent-reported autistic symptoms and more self-reported internalizing problems. However, across the full sample, larger ERN amplitudes were associated with better performance on theory of mind tasks. The results are discussed in terms of the utility of electrophysiological measures for understanding essential moderating processes that contribute to the spectrum of behavioral expression in the development of ASD.

Neural correlates of error monitoring in adolescents prospectively predict initiation of tobacco use

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Error-related brain activity increases during adolescence.

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Weaker response to errors predicts future initiation of tobacco use.

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Faster development of error monitoring function can be a protective factor.

Deficits in self-regulation of behavior can play an important role in the initiation of substance use and progression to regular use and dependence. One of the distinct component processes of self-regulation is error monitoring, i.e. detection of a conflict between the intended and actually executed action. Here we examined whether a neural marker of error monitoring, Error-Related Negativity (ERN), predicts future initiation of tobacco use. ERN was assessed in a prospective longitudinal sample at ages 12, 14, and 16 using a flanker task. ERN amplitude showed a significant increase with age during adolescence. Reduced ERN amplitude at ages 14 and 16, as well as slower rate of its developmental changes significantly predicted initiation of tobacco use by age 18 but not transition to regular tobacco use or initiation of marijuana and alcohol use. The present results suggest that attenuated development of the neural mechanisms of error monitoring during adolescence can increase the risk for initiation of tobacco use. The present results also suggest that the role of distinct neurocognitive component processes involved in behavioral regulation may be limited to specific stages of addiction.

Neurophysiological correlates of error monitoring and inhibitory processing in juvenile violent offenders

Performance monitoring is crucial for well-adapted behavior. Offenders typically have a pervasive repetition of harmful-impulsive behaviors, despite an awareness of the negative consequences of their actions. However, the link between performance monitoring and aggressive behavior in juvenile offenders has not been closely investigated. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were used to investigate performance monitoring in juvenile non-psychopathic violent offenders compared with a well-matched control group. Two ERP components associated with error monitoring, error-related negativity (ERN) and error-positivity (Pe), and two components related to inhibitory processing, the stop-N2 and stop-P3 components, were evaluated using a combined flanker-stop-signal task. The results showed that the amplitudes of the ERN, the stop-N2, the stop-P3, and the standard P3 components were clearly reduced in the offenders group. Remarkably, no differences were observed for the Pe. At the behavioral level, slower stop-signal reaction times were identified for offenders, which indicated diminished inhibitory processing. The present results suggest that the monitoring of one's own behavior is affected in juvenile violent offenders. Specifically, we determined that different aspects of executive function were affected in the studied offenders, including error processing (reduced ERN) and response inhibition (reduced N2 and P3). However, error awareness and compensatory post-error adjustment processes (error correction) were unaffected. The current pattern of results highlights the role of performance monitoring in the acquisition and maintenance of externalizing harmful behavior that is frequently observed in juvenile offenders.

Small for gestational age and poor fluid intelligence in childhood predict externalizing behaviors among young adults born at extremely low birth weight

Although infants born at extremely low birth weight (ELBW; birth weight < 1000 g) are at increased risk for developing later psychopathology, the mechanisms contributing to this association are largely unknown. In the present study, we examined a putative cognitive link to psychopathology in a cohort of ELBW survivors. These individuals were followed up prospectively at age 8 and again at ages 22-26. At 8 years, participants completed measures of fluid and general intelligence. As young adults, a subset of ELBW survivors free of major neurosensory impairments provided self-reports of personality characteristics related to psychopathology. Data from 66 participants indicated that, as predicted, the association between ELBW and externalizing behaviors was moderated by fluid intelligence. Specifically, ELBW individuals with poor fluid intelligence who were born small for gestational age (birth weight < 10th percentile for gestational age) showed the highest level of externalizing behaviors. These findings provide support for a cumulative risk model and suggest that fluid intelligence might be a cognitive mechanism contributing to the development of psychopathology among nonimpaired individuals who were born at ELBW and small for gestational age.

Development of neural mechanisms of conflict and error processing during childhood: implications for self-regulation

Regulation of thoughts and behavior requires attention, particularly when there is conflict between alternative responses or when errors are to be prevented or corrected. Conflict monitoring and error processing are functions of the executive attention network, a neurocognitive system that greatly matures during childhood. In this study, we examined the development of brain mechanisms underlying conflict and error processing with event-related potentials (ERPs), and explored the relationship between brain function and individual differences in the ability to self-regulate behavior. Three groups of children aged 4-6, 7-9, and 10-13 years, and a group of adults performed a child-friendly version of the flanker task while ERPs were registered. Marked developmental changes were observed in both conflict processing and brain reactions to errors. After controlling by age, higher self-regulation skills are associated with smaller amplitude of the conflict effect but greater amplitude of the error-related negativity. Additionally, we found that electrophysiological measures of conflict and error monitoring predict individual differences in impulsivity and the capacity to delay gratification. These findings inform of brain mechanisms underlying the development of cognitive control and self-regulation.

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

Growth in executive functioning (EF) skills play a role children's academic success, and the transition to elementary school is an important time for the development of these abilities. Despite this, evidence concerning the development of the ERP components linked to EF, including the error-related negativity (ERN) and the error positivity (Pe), over this period is inconclusive. Data were recorded in a school setting from 3- to 7-year-old children (N=96, mean age=5 years 11 months) as they performed a Go/No-Go task. Results revealed the presence of the ERN and Pe on error relative to correct trials at all age levels. Older children showed increased response inhibition as evidenced by faster, more accurate responses. Although developmental changes in the ERN were not identified, the Pe increased with age. In addition, girls made fewer mistakes and showed elevated Pe amplitudes relative to boys. Based on a representative school-based sample, findings indicate that the ERN is present in children as young as 3, and that development can be seen in the Pe between ages 3 and 7. Results varied as a function of gender, providing insight into the range of factors associated with developmental changes in the complex relations between behavioral and electrophysiological measures of error processing.

Developmental changes in performance monitoring: how electrophysiological data can enhance our understanding of error and feedback processing in childhood and adolescence

Performance monitoring includes learning from errors and feedback and depends on the functioning of the mediofrontal cortex, especially the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the mesencephalic dopamine system. Error and feedback monitoring develop during childhood until early adulthood and are important in a lot of learning situations. The aims of this article are twofold: First, to review the present literature on the development of performance monitoring, and second, to highlight how electrophysiological data can contribute to the understanding of error and feedback processing in childhood and adolescence.

The effects of performance-based rewards on neurophysiological correlates of stimulus, error, and feedback processing in children with ADHD

Rewards have been shown to improve behavior and cognitive processes implicated in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but the information-processing mechanisms by which these improvements occur remain unclear. We examined the effect of performance-based rewards on ERPs related to processing of the primary task stimuli, errors, and feedback in children with ADHD and typically developing controls. Participants completed a flanker task containing blocks with and without performance-based rewards. Children with ADHD showed reduced amplitude of ERPs associated with processing of the flanker stimuli (P3) and errors (ERN, Pe), but did not differ in feedback-processing (FRN). Rewards enhanced flanker-related P3 amplitude similarly across groups and error-related Pe amplitude differentially for children with ADHD. These findings suggest that rewards may improve cognitive deficits in children with ADHD through enhanced processing of relevant stimuli and increased error evaluation.

Performance monitoring in children and adolescents: a review of developmental changes in the error-related negativity and brain maturation

To realize our goals we continuously adapt our behavior according to internal or external feedback. Errors provide an important source for such feedback and elicit a scalp electrical potential referred to as the error-related negativity (ERN), which is a useful marker for studying typical and atypical development of cognitive control mechanisms involved in performance monitoring. In this review, we survey the available studies on age-related differences in the ERN in children and adolescents. The majority of the studies show that the ERN increases in strength throughout childhood and adolescence, suggesting continued maturation of the neural systems for performance monitoring, but there are still many unresolved questions. We further review recent research in adults that has provided important insights into the neural underpinnings of the ERN and performance monitoring, implicating distributed neural systems than include the dorsal anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, the lateral prefrontal cortex, insula, basal ganglia, thalamus and white matter connections between these regions. Finally, we discuss the possible roles of structural and functional maturation of these brain regions in the development of the ERN. Overall, we argue that future work should use multimodal approaches to give a better understanding of the neurocognitive development of performance monitoring.

The effects of acute abstinence from smoking and performance-based rewards on performance monitoring

RATIONALE

Abstinence from smoking disrupts performance in multiple cognitive domains, and such cognitive effects may serve to maintain smoking behavior. Rather than having specific effects on a narrow domain of processing, abstinence may disrupt more general cognitive control processes and/or motivation.

OBJECTIVES

The present study tested the prediction that overnight abstinence from smoking would disrupt a general performance monitoring system indexed via the error-related negativity (ERN). A secondary aim was to determine the extent to which performance-based monetary rewards improved the ERN among smokers and whether the effect of the reward was diminished during abstinence.

METHODS

The ERN was assessed during a flanker task among 25 heavy, non-treatment-seeking smokers both when smoking as usual and after overnight abstinence; reward and no-reward trial blocks occurred within each session.

RESULTS

As predicted, mean ERN amplitude was reduced during abstinence. The ERN was enhanced by reward; this effect did not vary with smoking abstinence.

CONCLUSION

This study provides novel data which suggest that acute abstinence from smoking disrupts a neurophysiological index of a general performance monitoring system that is involved in a range of cognitive functions. The ERN may be a useful complement to narrow-band cognitive studies of abstinence and interventions designed to target cognition in addiction. Because the ERN was concurrently sensitive to abstinence and performance-based incentives, it may be particularly useful for examining the interplay of cognition and motivation in smoking and smoking cessation.

Error-monitoring brain activity is associated with affective behaviors in young children

Despite recent evidence that neural correlates of error monitoring such as the error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe) are visible in children sooner than previously thought, little is known about these components early in life. Error-monitoring components can be noninvasively recorded from a very early age and have been proposed as biological markers of risk for psychopathology. Therefore, the current study represents an attempt to examine the presence of these components in a sample of very young children and explore their associations with affect and attentional control.Fifteen children between ages 4 and 8 participated in two laboratory episodes: interacting with a stranger and completing a computerized flanker task. Shy and bold behaviors were scored during the stranger interaction and parents reported on temperament-based affective behaviors. Both ERN and Pe were visible in children as young as age 4. A trend-level interaction was observed between age and gender in association with ERN amplitudes. Age and gender were unrelated to the Pe. Greater ERN and Pe were associated with better poorer orienting and greater attentional focusing, respectively. Greater Pe was also linked to less observed boldness. Implications for studies of the development of performance monitoring in children are discussed.

Performance monitoring and the medial prefrontal cortex: a review of individual differences and context effects as a window on self-regulation

The medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) is central to self-regulation and has been implicated in generating a cluster of event-related potential components, collectively referred to as medial frontal negativities (MFNs). These MFNs are elicited while individuals monitor behavioral and environmental consequences, and include the error-related negativity, Nogo N2, and the feedback-related negativity. A growing cognitive and affective neuroscience literature indicates that the activation of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and surrounding medial prefrontal regions during performance monitoring is not only influenced by task context, but that these patterns of activity also vary as a function of individual differences (e.g., personality, temperament, clinical and non-clinical symptomatology, socio-political orientation, and genetic polymorphisms), as well as interactions between individual differences and task context. In this review we survey the neuroscience literature on the relations between performance monitoring, personality, task context, and brain functioning with a focus on the MPFC. We relate these issues to the role of affect in the paradigms used to elicit performance-monitoring neural responses and highlight some of the theoretical and clinical implications of this research. We conclude with a discussion of the complexity of these issues and how some of the basic assumptions required for their interpretation may be clarified with future research.

Monitoring, metacognition, and executive function: elucidating the role of self-reflection in the development of self-regulation

While an abundance of research has investigated the development of the automatic and controlled processes through which individuals control their thoughts, emotions, and actions, less research has emphasized the role of the self in self-regulation. This chapter synthesizes four literatures that have examined the mechanisms through which the individual acts in a managerial role, evaluating the current status of the system and initiating regulatory actions as necessary. Taken together, these literatures (on executive function, error monitoring, metacognition, and uncertainty monitoring) suggest that self-reflection plays a critical role in self-regulation, and that developmental improvements in self-reflection (via increasing levels of conscious awareness and enhanced calibration of monitoring systems) may serve as driving forces underlying developmental improvement (and temperamental individual differences) in children's ability to control their thoughts and actions.

Magnitude and chronometry of neural mechanisms of emotion regulation in subtypes of aggressive children

Emotion regulation is a key social skill and children who fail to master it are at risk for clinical disorders. Specific styles of emotion regulation have been associated with particular patterns of prefrontal activation. We investigated whether anxious aggressive children would reveal a different pattern of cortical activation than non-anxious aggressive children and normally-developing children. We examined the magnitude and timing of source activation underlying the N2-an ERP associated with inhibitory control-during a go/nogo task with a negative emotion induction component (loss of earned points). We estimated cortical activation for two regions of interest-a ventral prefrontal and a dorsomedial prefrontal region-for three 100-ms windows over the range of the N2 (200-500 ms). Anxious aggressive children showed high ventral prefrontal activation in the early window; non-anxious aggressive children showed high ventral prefrontal activation in the late window, but only for the duration of the emotion induction; and normally-developing children showed low ventral prefrontal activation throughout. There were no group differences in dorsomedial prefrontal activation. These results suggest that anxious aggressive children recruit ventral prefrontal activation quickly and indiscriminately, possibly giving rise to their rigid, threat-oriented approach to conflict. The late ventral prefrontal activation seen for non-anxious aggressive children may underlie a more delayed, situation-specific, but ineffective response to frustration.

Electrocortical and behavioral measures of response monitoring in young children during a Go/No-Go task

The current study examined behavioral measures and response-locked event-related brain potentials (ERPs) derived from a Go/No-Go task in a large (N = 328) sample of 5- to 7-year-olds in order to better understand the early development of response monitoring and the impact of child age and sex. In particular, the error-related negativity (ERN, defined on both error trials alone and the difference between error and correct trials, or ΔERN), correct response negativity (CRN), and error positivity (P(e)) were examined. Overall, the ERN, CRN, and the P(e) were spatially and temporally similar to those measured in adults and older children. Even within our narrow age range, older children were faster and more accurate; a more negative ΔERN and a more positive P(e) were associated with: increasing age, increased accuracy, and faster reaction times on errors, suggesting these enhanced components reflected more efficient response monitoring of errors over development. Girls were slower and more accurate than boys, although both genders exhibited comparable ERPs. Younger children and girls were characterized by increased posterror slowing, although they did not demonstrate improved posterror accuracy. Posterror slowing was also related to a larger P(e) and reduced posterror accuracy. Collectively, these data suggest that posterror slowing may be unrelated to cognitive control and may, like the P(e), reflect an orienting response to errors.

Age, sex and individual differences in punishment sensitivity: factors influencing the feedback-related negativity

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is central to evaluating performance outcomes and has been linked to individual differences in affective responses to feedback. We used electrophysiological source localization to examine the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and related ACC activity during a gambling task in relation to punishment and reward sensitivity among 16- to 17-year-old adolescents (n=20) and 18- to 29-year-old adults (n=30). The FRN was larger for monetary loss compared to win feedback and larger for high relative to low monetary value feedback, with no age differences in the FRN for win or loss feedback. Self-reported sensitivity to punishment accounted for unique variance (over sex and sensitivity to reward) in FRNs, with higher scores relating to larger FRNs and increased rostral ACC activity. These results support the ACC role in experiencing negative performance feedback, especially for individuals highly sensitive to punishment.

Inhibition control and error processing in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: an event-related potentials study

We studied inhibitory control and error processing in a task requiring inhibition of a motor response. Behavioral and ERP indices were recorded in fourteen ADHD and fourteen healthy children aged between 6 and 10years during the Stop signal task (SST). The ADHD group made more variable in RT and showed less accuracy, more omissions and choice errors. Also, the ADHD group had a tendency toward a lower probability of inhibition and a longer Stop signal reaction time. The ADHD group also displayed a flatter response inhibition slope compared to the control group. Smaller P1 in ADHD group reflected that the ADHD group has less efficient attention than the control group. Furthermore, the ADHD group showed normal ERN, reduced Pe (retrieved from response-locked epochs), and reduced LPW (retrieved from Stop signal-locked epochs), suggesting that they might be normal in early error monitoring process related to error detection, but show abnormal in later error monitoring process associated with a conscious evaluation of the error. Behavioral and ERP data of the present study show deficient selective attention, inhibitory control, and error processing in children of ADHD.

Absorbed in the task: Personality measures predict engagement during task performance as tracked by error negativity and asymmetrical frontal activity

We hypothesized that interactions between traits and context predict task engagement, as measured by the amplitude of the error-related negativity (ERN), performance, and relative frontal activity asymmetry (RFA). In Study 1, we found that drive for reward, absorption, and constraint independently predicted self-reported persistence. We hypothesized that, during a prolonged monotonous task, absorption would predict initial ERN amplitudes, constraint would delay declines in ERN amplitudes and deterioration of performance, and drive for reward would predict left RFA when a reward could be obtained. Study 2, employing EEG recordings, confirmed our predictions. The results showed that most traits that have in previous research been related to ERN amplitudes have a relationship with the motivational trait persistence in common. In addition, trait-context combinations that are likely associated with increased engagement predict larger ERN amplitudes and RFA. Together, these results support the hypothesis that engagement may be a common underlying factor predicting ERN amplitude.

Operationalizing proneness to externalizing psychopathology as a multivariate psychophysiological phenotype

The externalizing dimension is viewed as a broad dispositional factor underlying risk for numerous disinhibitory disorders. Prior work has documented deficits in event-related brain potential (ERP) responses in individuals prone to externalizing problems. Here, we constructed a direct physiological index of externalizing vulnerability from three ERP indicators and evaluated its validity in relation to criterion measures in two distinct domains: psychometric and physiological. The index was derived from three ERP measures that covaried in their relations with externalizing proneness-the error-related negativity and two variants of the P3. Scores on this ERP composite predicted psychometric criterion variables and accounted for externalizing-related variance in P3 response from a separate task. These findings illustrate how a diagnostic construct can be operationalized as a composite (multivariate) psychophysiological variable (phenotype).

Developmental change in the neurophysiological correlates of self-regulation in high- and low-emotion conditions

One of the most important tasks of childhood is learning to self-regulate in the presence of negative emotions. Until recently, almost no research has examined the neurophysiological correlates of emotional self-regulation as it develops over childhood and adolescence. We were interested in plotting a fine-grained developmental profile of the neural underpinnings of self-regulation, in the context of negative emotion, for 7- to 14-year-old children. We predicted that children would recruit less cortical activation with age in the service of self-regulation, reflecting increased neural efficiency with development. We also predicted that children would recruit more cortical activation with increased negative emotion, possibly reflecting greater demand on cortical resources. We administered a Go No-Go task with an emotion induction block and we measured the amplitude of the N2, an event related potential associated with inhibitory control, as it varied with block and with age. Furthermore, we estimated activation for a ventral prefrontal region of interest (ROI; suggestive of orbital frontal, ventromedial prefrontal, or rostral anterior cingulate activation) and a dorsomedial prefrontal ROI (suggestive of dorsal anterior cingulate activation) frequently modeled as cortical generators underlying the N2. Results revealed a marginal decrease in mediofrontal scalp activation, but a more pronounced decrease in activation of the ventromedial prefrontal ROI, with age. There were no age-related changes in dorsomedial prefrontal ROI activation. Lastly, as predicted, we found increased ventral prefrontal ROI activation during the negative emotion induction, possibly reflecting greater recruitment of frontocortical resources underlying emotion regulation, but developmental change in this activation was no different than for the other conditions. Thus, both self-regulation in general and emotion regulation in particular recruited less cortical activation with age, suggesting more efficient cortical mechanisms of response inhibition.

Self-regulation in ADHD: the role of error processing

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by persistent and impairing developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Such behavioral dysregulation may be a consequence of deficits in self-monitoring or adaptive control, both of which are required for adaptive behavior. Processing of contextual demands, ongoing monitoring of one's behavior to evaluate whether it is appropriate for a particular situation, and adjusting behavior when it is suboptimal are components of self-regulation. This review examines and integrates the emerging literature on error-processing and adaptive control as components of self-regulation into the prominent etiological theories of ADHD. Available data on error-processing, as reflected in event-related potentials (ERN and Pe) and behavioral performance, suggest that both early error detection and later error-evaluation may be diminished in ADHD, thereby interfering with adaptive control processes. However, variability in results limit broad conclusions, particularly for early error detection. A range of methodological issues, including ERP parameters and sample and task characteristics, likely contribute to this variability, and recommendations for future work are presented. The emerging literature on error-processing and adaptive control informs etiological theories of ADHD in general and may provide a method for testing self-regulation models in particular.

Why do beliefs about intelligence influence learning success? A social cognitive neuroscience model

Students' beliefs and goals can powerfully influence their learning success. Those who believe intelligence is a fixed entity (entity theorists) tend to emphasize 'performance goals,' leaving them vulnerable to negative feedback and likely to disengage from challenging learning opportunities. In contrast, students who believe intelligence is malleable (incremental theorists) tend to emphasize 'learning goals' and rebound better from occasional failures. Guided by cognitive neuroscience models of top-down, goal-directed behavior, we use event-related potentials (ERPs) to understand how these beliefs influence attention to information associated with successful error correction. Focusing on waveforms associated with conflict detection and error correction in a test of general knowledge, we found evidence indicating that entity theorists oriented differently toward negative performance feedback, as indicated by an enhanced anterior frontal P3 that was also positively correlated with concerns about proving ability relative to others. Yet, following negative feedback, entity theorists demonstrated less sustained memory-related activity (left temporal negativity) to corrective information, suggesting reduced effortful conceptual encoding of this material-a strategic approach that may have contributed to their reduced error correction on a subsequent surprise retest. These results suggest that beliefs can influence learning success through top-down biasing of attention and conceptual processing toward goal-congruent information.

An examination of error-related brain activity and its modulation by error value in young children

The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related brain potential observed in adults when errors are committed, and which appears to be sensitive to error value. Recent work suggests that the ERN can also be elicited in relatively young children using simple tasks and that ERN amplitude might be sensitive to error value. The current study employed a Go No-Go paradigm in which 5-7-year-old children (N = 18) earned low or high points for correct responses. Results indicated that errors were associated with an ERN; however, the size was not reliably moderated by error value.

The impact of perfectionism and anxiety traits on action monitoring in major depressive disorder

Perfectionism and anxiety features are involved in the clinical presentation and neurobiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). In MDD, cognitive control mechanisms such as action monitoring can adequately be investigated applying electrophysiological registrations of the error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe). It is also known that traits of perfectionism and anxiety influence ERN amplitudes in healthy subjects. The current study explores the impact of perfectionism and anxiety traits on action monitoring in MDD. A total of 39 MDD patients performed a flankers task during an event-related potential (ERP) session and completed the multidimensional perfectionism scale (MPS) with its concern over mistakes (CM) and doubt about actions (DA) subscales and the trait form of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. Multiple regression analyses with stepwise backward elimination revealed MPS-DA to be a significant predictor (R²:0.22) for the ERN outcomes, and overall MPS (R²:0.13) and MPS-CM scores (R²:0.18) to have significant predictive value for the Pe amplitudes. Anxiety traits did not have a predictive capacity for the ERPs. MPS-DA clearly affected the ERN, and overall MPS and MPS-CM influenced the Pe, whereas no predictive capacity was found for anxiety traits. The manifest impact of perfectionism on patients’ error-related ERPs may contribute to our understanding of the action-monitoring process and the functional significance of the Pe in MDD. The divergent findings for perfectionism and anxiety features also indicate that the wide range of various affective personality styles might exert a different effect on action monitoring in MDD, awaiting further investigation.