Transdiagnostic factors and pathways to multifinality: The error-related negativity predicts whether preschool irritability is associated with internalizing versus externalizing symptoms at age 9

Abstract

There is increasing interest among developmental psychopathologists in broad transdiagnostic factors that give rise to a wide array of clinical presentations (multifinality), but little is known about how these processes lead to particular psychopathological manifestations over the course of development. We examined whether individual differences in the error related negativity (ΔERN), a neural indicator of error monitoring, predicts whether early persistent irritability—a prototypical transdiagnostic construct— is associated with later internalizing versus externalizing outcomes. When children were 3 years old, mothers were interviewed about children’s persistent irritability and completed questionnaires about their children’s psychopathology. Three years later, EEG was recorded while children performed a go/no-go task to measure the ΔERN. When children were approximately 9 years old, mothers again completed questionnaires about their children’s psychopathology. Results indicated that among children who were persistently irritable at age 3, an enhanced or more negative ΔERN at age 6 predicted the development of internalizing symptoms at age 9, whereas a blunted or smaller ΔERN at age 6 predicted the development of externalizing symptoms. Our results suggest that variation in error monitoring predicts, and may even shape, the expression of persistent irritability and differentiates developmental trajectories from preschool persistent irritability to internalizing versus externalizing outcomes in middle-late childhood.

Temporally sensitive neural measures of inhibition in preschool children across a spectrum of irritability

“…The present study joins emerging research linking dimensional assessments of irritability with neurocognitive functioning (Dougherty et al, ; Grabell et al, ; Kessel, Dougherty, et al, ; Kessel, Meyer, et al, ; Li et al, ; Perlman et al, ). We add to extant literature by providing evidence that higher levels of early irritability are associated with response inhibition impairments and enhanced activation of a conflict monitoring circuit during marked negative affect.…”

“…In young children, irritability can also manifest as long periods of angry or negative mood (e.g., “stays angry for a long time”; Wakschlag et al, ). While progress has been made in carefully cataloging the full range and characteristics of irritability in very young children (Biedzio and Wakschlag, in press; Wakschlag et al, ; Wakschlag et al, ; Wiggins et al, ), emerging evidence suggests that integrating neurocognitive measures can aid in identifying when a young child's irritability is likely to be associated with adverse long‐term outcomes (Dougherty et al, ; Grabell et al, ; Grabell, Olson, Tardif, Thompson, & Gehring, ; Kessel, Dougherty, et al, ; Kessel, Meyer, et al, ; Li, Grabell, Wakschlag, Huppert, & Perlman, ; Perlman et al, ; Perlman, Luna, Hein, & Huppert, ). For example, interactions between early childhood irritability and neural measures of cognitive control predicted whether children developed internalizing or externalizing symptoms at age 9 (Kessel, Meyer, et al, ).…”

“…Another laboratory has linked higher levels of preschool irritability with lateral and medial prefrontal cortex activation patterns during tests of cognitive control and cognitive flexibility (Li et al, ; Perlman et al, ). A series of studies emerging from a carefully characterized sample of children at risk for depression has revealed links between levels of preschool irritability and altered neural activation patterns and functional connectivity during reward and cognitive control tasks (Dougherty et al, ; Kessel, Dougherty, et al, ; Kessel, Meyer, et al, ). In one study, as irritability progressed from mild to moderate, lateral prefrontal activation during a cognitive control task increased.…”

Intelligence and Neurophysiological Markers of Error Monitoring Relate to Children's Intellectual Humility

“…ERP data were segmented starting 500 ms prior to the response and an additional 800 ms postresponse. Consistent with previous developmental studies (e.g., Kessel et al, 2016;Meyer, Riesel, & Proudfit, 2013), we analyzed ERPs at the electrode sites where the component was maximal. The ERN was analyzed at FCz, and the Pe was analyzed at Pz, where these ERPs were maximal.…”

The Stony Brook Temperament Study: Early Antecedents and Pathways to Emotional Disorders

“…In particular, it is important to trace the many paths from positive and negative valence system functioning to emotional disorders, and identify points in development when risk factors provide maximum leverage in predicting psychopathology. Key questions include whether low positive valence system sensitivity can explain the heterotypic continuity of early temperamental fearfulness and anxiety disorders with the onset of depression in adolescence, and whether biobehavioral indicators of regulatory functioning can explain why some young children with elevated levels of irritability subsequently develop internalizing symptoms while others develop externalizing problems (45). …”