Considering ERP difference scores as individual difference measures: Issues with subtraction and alternative approaches

Abstract

There is growing interest in psychophysiological and neural correlates of psychopathology, personality, and other individual differences. Many studies correlate a criterion individual difference variable (e.g., anxiety) with a psychophysiological measurement derived by subtracting scores taken from two within-subject conditions. These subtraction-based difference scores are intended to increase specificity by isolating variability of interest. Using data on the error-related negativity (ERN) and correct response negativity (CRN) in relation to generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), we highlight several conceptual and practical issues with subtraction-based difference scores and propose alternative approaches based on regression. We show that ERN and CRN are highly correlated, and that the DERN (i.e., ERN 2 CRN) is correlated in opposite directions both with ERN and CRN. Bivariate analyses indicate that GAD is related to DERN and ERN, but not CRN. We first show that, by using residualized scores, GAD relates both to a larger ERN and smaller CRN. Moreover, by probing the interaction of ERN and CRN, we show that the relationship between GAD and ERN varies by CRN. These latter findings are not evident when using traditional subtraction-based difference scores. We then completed follow-up analyses that suggested that an increased P300 in anxious individuals gave rise to the apparent anxiety/CRN relationship observed. These findings have important conceptual implications for facilitating the interpretability of results from individual difference studies of psychophysiology.

Introduction to the Special Issue: Discrepancies in Adolescent–Parent Perceptions of the Family and Adolescent Adjustment

“…Thus, the polynomial regression approach can generalize to examining changes in informant discrepancies over time. Further, the polynomial regression approach has been extended to understanding and interpreting informant discrepancies in other areas, including neuroscience, personality, and treatment (Fjermestad et al 2016;Meyer et al 2016;Tackett et al 2013). Other approaches possess similar capabilities and have been successfully implemented in the study of informant discrepancies.…”

“…As in other literatures (e.g., mental health; organizational behavior; neuroscience ;De Los Reyes and Kazdin 2004;Edwards 1994;Meyer et al 2016), researchers examining discrepancies between adolescents' and parents' reports of family functioning often seek to measure the distance or ''gaps'' between these reports, and test whether variations in these gaps relate to variations in scores from criterion variables (e.g., adolescent psychosocial functioning). Historically, these measurements often consisted of taking the difference between one informant's report of a family functioning domain (e.g., adolescent report of family conflict) from another informant's report on that same domain (e.g., parent report of family conflict).…”

Inaugural Editorial: Making the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology Your “Home Journal”

“…Recently, researchers developed versions of these models that allow for examining these interaction terms as independent and/or dependent variables (De Los Reyes, Laird & LaFleur, 2016). In fact, researchers in a variety of areas now use these multiple regression/interaction approaches in lieu of difference scores, including treatment, neuroscience, and personality (Fjermestad et al, 2016;Meyer et al, 2016;Tackett, Herzhoff, Reardon, Smack, & Kushner, 2013). Needless to say, other approaches accomplish objectives similar to those accomplished with multiple regression/interaction approaches (for a review, see De Los .…”

“…Researchers often use difference scores to assess individual differences in constructs such as therapeutic change, neurobiological activity, differential parenting, and the differences between informants' views on the same psychological construct (i.e., informant discrepancies; see De Los Reyes & Laird & De Los Reyes, 2013;Meyer, Lerner, De Los Reyes, Laird, & Hajcak, 2016). For example, to assess therapeutic change in a treatment outcome study, one might subtract a score taken from a measure of a patient's baseline functioning from the score obtained immediately posttreatment on that same measure, essentially creating a change score to use as an individual differences variable in subsequent analyses (Cronbach & Furby, 1970).…”

Procesamiento de errores en la psicopatía subclínica: un estudio de potenciales evocados

“…Groom y Cragg, 2016). Por su parte, la ventana temporal para cuantificar el componente P300 en la tarea de flancos se fijó entre los 300 y 600 ms tras la presentación del estímulo -de acuerdo con estudios previos que han examinado la amplitud de este componente en esta tarea (Meyer, Lerner, De los Reyes, Laird, y Hajcak, 2017)-en los ensayos en los que se respondió de forma correcta tanto en los ensayos Incongruentes -Incong-P3-como en los congruentes -Cong-P3-en tres áreas de sensores centroparietales (Cz, CPz, Pz).…”