Error‐related negativity (ERN) and sustained threat: Conceptual framework and empirical evaluation in an adolescent sample

Weinberg, Anna; Meyer, Alexandria; Hale-Rude, Emily; Kotov, Roman; Klein, Daniel N.; Hajcak, Greg

doi:10.1111/psyp.12538

Cited by 162 publications

(180 citation statements)

References 176 publications

(226 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

162

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…39 A prominent theory of between-subject ERN variation suggests that the ERN reflects a more general endogenous threat response. 15,40 Our data are consistent with this interpretation of the ERN, but suggest that it is also possible to isolate specific subtypes of threat or salience indexed by the ERN. Here, we employed a social manipulation and calculated residualized scores to remove ERN variance due to a more general threat response (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

A Neurobehavioral Mechanism Linking Behaviorally Inhibited Temperament and Later Adolescent Social Anxiety

Buzzell

Troller‐Renfree

Barker

et al. 2017

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psych

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective Behavioral inhibition (BI) is a temperament identified in early childhood that is a risk factor for later social anxiety. However, mechanisms underlying development of social anxiety remain unclear. To better understand the emergence of social anxiety, longitudinal studies investigating changes at both behavioral neural levels are needed. Method BI was assessed in the laboratory at ages 2 and 3 (N = 268). Children returned at age 12, and electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded while performing a flanker task under two conditions: once while believing they were being observed by peers, and once while not being observed. This methodology isolated changes in error monitoring (error-related negativity; ERN) and behavior (post-error reaction time [RT] slowing) as a function of social context. At age 12, current social anxiety symptoms and lifetime diagnoses of social anxiety were obtained. Results Childhood BI prospectively predicted social-specific ERN increases and social anxiety symptoms in adolescence; these symptoms directly related to clinical diagnoses. Serial mediation analysis revealed social ERN changes explained relations between BI and both social anxiety symptoms (n = 107) and diagnosis (n = 92), but only insofar as social context also led to increased post-error RT slowing (a measure of error preoccupation); this model was not significantly related to generalized anxiety. Conclusion Results extend prior work on socially-induced changes in error monitoring and error preoccupation. These measures may index a neurobehavioral mechanism linking behavioral inhibition to adolescent social anxiety symptoms and diagnosis. This mechanism may relate more strongly to social than generalized anxiety in the peri-adolescent period.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

A Neurobehavioral Mechanism Linking Behaviorally Inhibited Temperament and Later Adolescent Social Anxiety

Buzzell

Troller‐Renfree

Barker

et al. 2017

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psych

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As previously discussed, this is consistent with a large body of work suggesting that individuals with internalizing disorders and traits display increased ERNs, which has been hypothesized to reflect an increased sensitivity and defensive response to errors, or perhaps more broadly, increased responding to internal sources of threat (Hajcak, 2012; Weinberg et al, In Press). Inconsistent with some previous findings, we did not find a relationship between the magnitude of the ERN and externalizing disorders.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

A genetic variant brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) polymorphism interacts with hostile parenting to predict error-related brain activity and thereby risk for internalizing disorders in children

Meyer¹,

Hajcak²,

Hayden³

et al. 2017

Dev Psychopathol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative deflection in the event-related potential occurring when individuals make mistakes, and is increased in children with internalizing psychopathology. We recently found that harsh parenting predicts a larger ERN in children, and recent work has suggested that variation in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene may moderate the impact of early life adversity. Parents and children completed measures of parenting when children were 3 years old (N = 201); 3 years later, the ERN was measured and diagnostic interviews as well as dimensional symptom measures were completed. We found that harsh parenting predicted an increased ERN only among children with a methionine allele of the BDNF genotype, and evidence of moderated mediation: the ERN mediated the relationship between parenting and internalizing diagnoses and dimensional symptoms only if children had a methionine allele. We tested this model with externalizing disorders, and found that harsh parenting predicted externalizing outcomes, but the ERN did not mediate this association. These findings suggest that harsh parenting predicts both externalizing and internalizing outcomes in children; however, this occurs through different pathways that uniquely implicate error-related brain activity in the development of internalizing disorders.

show abstract

“…The ERN currently appears as a unit of measurement in multiple RDoC domains and has been associated with variability in anxious and depressive symptoms (Weinberg et al, 2016). In the current study, we utilized the ERN to illustrate measurement issues that would apply to any unit of measurement within the RDoC matrix that is calculated with subtraction-based difference scores.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Error‐related negativity (ERN) and sustained threat: Conceptual framework and empirical evaluation in an adolescent sample

Cited by 162 publications

References 176 publications

A Neurobehavioral Mechanism Linking Behaviorally Inhibited Temperament and Later Adolescent Social Anxiety

A Neurobehavioral Mechanism Linking Behaviorally Inhibited Temperament and Later Adolescent Social Anxiety

A genetic variant brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) polymorphism interacts with hostile parenting to predict error-related brain activity and thereby risk for internalizing disorders in children

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

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About