Self‐referential processing in adolescents: Stability of behavioral and ERP markers

Abstract

The self-referential encoding task (SRET)—an implicit measure of self-schema—has been used widely to probe cognitive biases associated with depression, including among adolescents. However, research testing the stability of behavioral and electrocortical effects is sparse. Therefore, the current study sought to evaluate the stability of behavioral markers and event-related potentials (ERP) elicited from the SRET over time in healthy, female adolescents (n = 31). At baseline, participants were administered a diagnostic interview and a self-report measure of depression severity. In addition, they completed the SRET while 128-channel event-related potential (ERP) data were recorded to examine early (P1) and late (late positive potential [LPP]) ERPs. Three months later, participants were re-administered the depression self-report measure and the SRET in conjunction with ERPs. Results revealed that healthy adolescents endorsed, recalled, and recognized more positive and fewer negative words at each assessment, and these effects were stable over time (rs = 0.44–0.83). Similarly, they reported a faster reaction time when endorsing self-relevant positive words, as opposed to negative words, at both the initial and follow-up assessment (r = 0.82). Second, ERP responses, specifically potentiated P1 and late LPP positivity to positive versus negative words, were consistent over time (rs = 0.56–0.83), and the internal reliability of ERPs were robust at each time point (rs = 0.52–0.80). As a whole, these medium-to-large effects suggest that the SRET is a reliable behavioral and neural probe of self-referential processing.

Sustained engagement of attention is associated with increased negative self-referent processing in major depressive disorder

“…Studies have shown strong correlations between endorsement of negative (but not positive) words and depressive symptoms (e.g., Disner, Shumake, & Beevers, 2016); increased endorsement of negative words (and decreased endorsement of positive words) on the SRET is also predictive of depression symptom course (Disner et al, 2016; Connolly, Abramson, & Alloy, 2015). Responses on the SRET also appear to be consistent over time particularly when depression symptoms remain relatively stable (Goldstein, Hayden, & Klein, 2015; Auerbach et al, 2016). …”

Emotion processing in female youth: Testing the stability of the late positive potential

“…The LPP is a slow-wave event-related potential (ERP) sensitive to emotional arousal that reflects elaborated attention toward affective stimuli (Auerbach, Stanton, Proudfit, & Pizzagalli, 2015; Auerbach et al, 2016; Hajcak, Weinberg, MacNamara, & Foti, 2012). The LPP is larger following unpleasant and pleasant stimuli compared to neutral stimuli (Cuthbert, Schupp, Bradley, Birbaumer, & Lang, 2000; Schupp et al, 2000 Foti & Hajcak, 2008; Foti, Hajcak, & Dien, 2009).…”

Determining optimal parameters of the Self Referent Encoding Task: A large-scale examination of self-referent cognition and depression

“…Nor were over-sampling procedures employed to make use of clinically depressed participants, although a number of participants in all three samples did endorse elevated depressive symptoms as noted in Table 2. However, many studies have utilized the SRET with nonclinical samples (e.g., Goldstein et al, 2015;Auerbach et al, 2016;Hayden et al, 2013), implying its effectiveness as a dimensional measure of self-referent processing in depression, and our samples are similar in makeup to these studies. Measures of socioeconomic status were not collected and thus cannot be reported.…”

“…Researchers also showed consistent endorsements of negative information when tested six months apart, which were only consistent for participants who remained depressed (Dozois & Dobson, 2001). Additionally, researchers who have examined the psychometrics of the SRET within study samples have shown high internal consistency in the responses (Auerbach et al, 2016). However, these studies all had relatively small samples (ns < 100) and internal reliability has not been routinely assessed with the SRET.…”