Increased Error-Related Brain Activity in Six-Year-Old Children with Clinical Anxiety

Abstract

Anxiety disorders are the most frequently diagnosed form of psychopathology in children and often result in chronic impairment that persists into adulthood. Identifying neurobehavioral correlates of anxiety that appear relatively early in life would inform etiological models of development and allow intervention and prevention strategies to be implemented more effectively. The error-related negativity (ERN), a negative deflection in the event-related potential at fronto-central sites approximately 50 ms following the commission of errors, has been consistently found to be larger among anxious adults. The current study sought to extend these findings to even younger individuals: the ERN was elicited by a Go/NoGo task in 48 six year-old children with a clinical anxiety disorder assessed by diagnostic interview and 48 age-matched controls. In addition to child anxiety disorder, the ERN was examined in relation to maternal history of anxiety disorder, which was previously related to a smaller ERN. Anxious children were characterized by a larger (i.e., more negative) ERN and maternal history of anxiety disorder was associated with a smaller ERN. Thus, the relationship between an increased ERN and clinical anxiety is evident by age 6, and this effect appears independent from an opposing influence of maternal anxiety history on the ERN. These findings support the ERN as a promising neurobehavioral marker of anxiety, and implications are discussed.

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

“…Individual variation in ERN magnitude is thought to index differences in sensitivity to error commission and defensive reactivity following mistakes (Hajcak, 2012; Weinberg, Riesel, & Hajcak, 2012). In keeping with the view that individuals with internalizing and externalizing tendencies have increased and decreased sensitivity to potential threat, respectively, studies have consistently found an increased ERN among internalizing individuals and a decreased ERN among externalizing individuals For example, work in adults and children suggests that the ERN magnitude is increased in individuals characterized by internalizing disorders or traits, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD; Carrasco et al, 2013; Endrass, Klawohn, Schuster, & Kathmann, 2008; Endrass et al, 2010; Gehring, Himle, & Nisenson, 2000; Hajcak, Franklin, Foa, & Simons, 2008; Riesel, Endrass, Kaufmann, & Kathmann, 2011; Ruchsow, Grön, et al, 2005), depression (Chiu & Deldin, 2007; Holmes & Pizzagalli, 2008, 2010; however, see: Olvet, Klein, & Hajcak, 2010; Weinberg, Klein, & Hajcak, 2012), generalized anxiety disorder (Weinberg, Olvet, & Hajcak, 2010; Xiao et al, 2011), heterogeneous anxiety disorders (Ladouceur, Dahl, Birmaher, Axelson, & Ryan, 2006; Meyer et al, 2013), OCD traits (Gründler, Cavanagh, Figueroa, Frank, & Allen, 2009; Hajcak & Simons, 2002; Santesso, Segalowitz, & Schmidt, 2006), trait anxiety (Meyer, Weinberg, Klein, & Hajcak, 2012; Pourtois et al, 2010), negative affect (Bush, Luu, & Posner, 2000; Hajcak, McDonald, & Simons, 2004), and behavioral inhibition (Amodio, Master, Yee, & Taylor, 2008; Boksem, Tops, Wester, Meijman, & Lorist, 2006; McDermott et al, 2009). In contrast, the ERN tends to be diminished in individuals characterized by externalizing disorders or traits, such as substance abuse (Franken, van Strien, Franzek, & van de Wetering, 2007; Luijten et al, 2014; Marhe, van de Wetering, & Franken, 2013), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; Albrecht et al, 2008; Groen et al, 2008; Hermann, Ziegler, Birbaumer, & Flor, 2002), psychopathy (Munro et al, 2007; Von Borries et al, 2010), trait impulsivity (Potts, George, Martin, & Barratt, 2006; Ruchsow, Spitzer, Grön, Grothe, & Kiefer, 2005), disinhibitory personality traits (Dikman & Allen, 2000), and externalizing traits (Hall, Bernat, & Patrick, 2007).…”

Associations between Disorder-Specific Symptoms of Anxiety and Error-Monitoring Brain Activity in Young Children

“…We have characterized this phenomenon as reflecting inefficient performance in anxiety because greater cognitive resources are allocated for no apparent behavioral gain (Eysenck et al 2007; Moser et al 2013; Moser et al 2014). Similar to adults, research in children has suggested that healthy subjects and their anxious peers do not differ in terms of behavioral performance (Meyer et al 2013). However, studies of young children have not fully characterized the nature of the anxiety-ERN relationship because they have yet to consider how anxiety may moderate the relationship between the ERN and behavioral performance.…”

Error related negativity and multi-source interference task in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder-combined type

“…For example, ERN was elicited by a Go/no-Go task in children with anxiety disorder and controls. ERN in children with anxiety disorder was characterized by more negative wave, evident by the age of 6, independently of influence of maternal anxiety 9 .…”