Neurophysiological activity following rewards and losses among female adolescents and young adults with borderline personality disorder

Social and Monetary Reward Processing in Youth with Early Emerging Personality Pathology: An RDoC-Informed Study

Very little is known about the mechanisms underlying the development of personality disorders, hindering efforts to address early risk for these costly and stigmatized disorders. In this study, we examined associations between social and monetary reward processing, measured at the neurophysiological level, and personality pathology, operationalized through the Level of Personality Functioning (LPF), in a sample of early adolescent females (Mage = 12.21 years old, SD = 1.21). Female youth with (n = 80) and without (n = 30) a mental health history completed laboratory tasks assessing social and monetary reward responsiveness using electroencephalogram (EEG) and completed ratings of personality pathology. Commonly co-occurring psychopathology, including depression, anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD) were also assessed. At the bivariate level, significant associations did not emerge between psychopathology and reward processing variables. When covarying symptoms of depression, anxiety, ADHD, ODD, and CD, an enhanced reward positivity (RewP) component to social reward feedback (accounting for response to social rejection) was associated with higher levels of personality impairment. Results were specific to social rather than monetary reward processing. Depression, anxiety, and ODD also explained unique variance in LPF. These findings suggest that alterations in social reward processing may be a key marker for early emerging personality pathology. Future work examining the role of social reward processing on the development of LPF across adolescence may guide efforts to prevent the profound social dysfunction associated with personality pathology.

Components of event-related potentials and borderline personality disorder: a meta-analysis

Background: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by symptoms associated with difficulties in emotion regulation, altered self-image, impulsivity, and instability in personal relationships. A relationship has been found between BPD symptoms and altered neuropsychological processes. Studies of event-related potentials (ERP) measured with electroencephalogram (EEG) have found neural correlates related to BPD symptoms. Of note is the P300 component, considered a potential mental health biomarker for trauma-associated disorders. However, no meta-analysis has been found to demonstrate this relationship.Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between the P300 component and BPD symptoms. To evaluate the relationship of other ERP components with BPD symptoms.Methods: The method and procedure were adjusted to the PRISMA checklist. The search was performed in three databases: WOS, Scopus and PubMed. A Random Effects Model was used to perform the analysis of the studies. In addition, a meta-regression was performed with % women, Gini and GDP. Finally, a descriptive analysis of the main results found between P300, other ERP components (LPP, P100 and ERN/Ne) and BPD symptoms was performed.Results: From a review of 485 articles, a meta-analysis was performed with six articles that met the inclusion criteria. A moderate, positive relationship was found between the P300 component and BPD symptoms (REM = .489; p < .001). It was not possible to perform meta-analyses for other ERP components (LPP, P100 and ERN/Ne) due to the low number of articles found.Conclusion: The idea that P300 could be considered for use as a biomarker to identify altered neural correlates in BPD is reinforced. In addition, a moderating effect of inequality (Gini) was detected.

Borderline personality features and altered social feedback processing in emerging adults: An EEG study

The goal of this study was to examine social feedback processing among emerging adults with borderline personality features (BPF). Participants (N = 118; 66.9% female) completed ratings of BPF and a computerized peer interaction task designed to measure processing of rejection and acceptance cues at the neurophysiological (i.e., electroencephalogram [EEG]), behavioral, and self-report levels. When covarying symptoms of depression and social anxiety, greater BPF were associated with heightened neural processing of social acceptance cues, accounting for reactivity to neutral and rejection cues, as demonstrated by an enhanced reward positivity (RewP) component. Additionally, BPF were associated with less adaptive voting in response to peer acceptance, such that emerging adults with higher BPF made fewer votes to keep peers in the game who had provided acceptance feedback to participants. These neural and behavioral patterns associated with BPF highlight the potential role of social reward processing in borderline personality. Specifically, emerging adults high in BPF show a hyper-responsiveness to social acceptance at the neural level but difficulty modulating behavioral responses in an adaptive way to obtain more social rewards. Future research replicating these effects across development may guide efforts to address and prevent the profound social dysfunction associated with BPF.

Reward-based decision-making in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy patients with unilateral hippocampal sclerosis pre- and post-surgery

BACKGROUND

Correct functioning of the reward processing system is critical for optimizing decision-making as well as preventing the development of addictions and/or neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression, apathy, and anhedonia. Consequently, patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy due to unilateral hippocampal sclerosis (mTLE-UHS) represent an excellent opportunity to study the brain networks involved in this system.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the current study was to evaluate decision-making and the electrophysiological correlates of feedback processing in a sample of mTLE-UHS patients, compared to healthy controls. In addition, we assessed the impact of mesial temporal lobe surgical resection on these processes, as well as general, neuropsychological functioning.

METHOD

17 mTLE-UHS patients and 17 matched healthy controls completed: [1] a computerized version of the Game of Dice Task, [2] a Standard Iowa Gambling Task, and [3] a modified ERP version of a probabilistic gambling task coupled with multichannel electroencephalography. Neuropsychological scores were also obtained both pre- and post-surgery.

RESULTS

Behavioral analyses showed a pattern of increased risk for the mTLE-UHS group in decision-making under ambiguity compared to the control group. A decrease in the amplitude of the Feedback Related Negativity (FRN), a weaker effect of valence on delta power, and a general reduction of delta and theta power in the mTLE-UHS group, as compared to the control group, were also found. The beta-gamma activity associated with the delivery of positive reward was similar in both groups. Behavioral performance and electrophysiological measures did not worsen post-surgery.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with mTLE-UHS showed impairments in decision-making under ambiguity, particularly when they had to make decisions based on the outcomes of their choices, but not in decision-making under risk. No group differences were observed in decision-making when feedbacks were random. These results might be explained by the abnormal feedback processing seen in the EEG activity of patients with mTLE-UHS, and by concomitant impairments in working memory, and memory. These impairments may be linked to the disruption of mesial temporal lobe networks. Finally, feedback processing and decision-making under ambiguity were already affected in mTLE-UHS patients pre-surgery and did not show evidence of clear worsening post-surgery.

Visually guided equivalence learning in borderline personality disorder

The hallmark symptoms of borderline personality disorder are maladaptive behavior and impulsive emotional reactions. However, the condition is occasionally associated with cognitive alterations. Recently, it has been found that the function of the basal ganglia and the hippocampi might also be affected. Hence, deterioration in learning and memory processes associated with these structures is expected. Thus, we sought to investigate visually guided associative learning, a type of conditioning associated with the basal ganglia and the hippocampi, in patients suffering from borderline personality disorder. In this study, the modified Rutgers Acquired Equivalence Test was used to assess associative learning in 23 patients and age-, sex-, and educational level-matched controls. The acquisition phase of the test, which is associated primarily with the frontostriatal loops, was altered in patients with borderline personality disorder: the patients exhibited poor performance in terms of building associations. However, the retrieval and generalization functions, which are primarily associated with the hippocampi and the medial temporal lobes, were not affected. These results corroborate that the basal ganglia are affected in borderline personality disorder. However, maintained retrieval and generalization do not support the assumption that the hippocampi are affected too.

Reward Responsiveness in Suicide Attempters: An Electroencephalography/Event-Related Potential Study

BACKGROUND

The present study aimed to objectively examine the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) subconstructs of reward anticipation and initial response to reward in adult suicide attempters, compared with nonattempters, using electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERPs) within the context of the RDoC-recommended experimental paradigms for these subconstructs.

METHODS

Participants had either a history of at least 1 suicide attempt (n = 30) or no history of attempting suicide (n = 30). They completed diagnostic interviews, self-report questionnaires, and 2 computer-based tasks-the monetary incentive delay task and the doors task-during which continuous EEG was recorded. Temporospatial principal component analysis was used to isolate each of the ERP components of interest from other temporally or spatially overlapping components. Exploratory time-frequency analyses were also conducted to supplement the ERP analyses.

RESULTS

Suicide attempters, compared with nonattempters, exhibited specific deficits in reward anticipation (i.e., blunted cue-P3 ERP during the monetary incentive delay task) and in initial response to reward (i.e., reduced feedback-related delta power in the gain condition of the doors task). These results were at least partially independent of current symptoms or diagnoses of depression and anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings constitute an important step in obtaining a more fine-grained understanding of the specific reward-related abnormalities that might contribute to suicide risk.