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Depressive symptoms and error-related brain activity in CPS-referred children

Alexandra R Tabachnick1, Emilio A Valadez1, Erin N Palmwood1

  • 1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA.

Psychophysiology
|August 11, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Childhood adversity impacts brain activity. Depressive symptoms were linked to blunted error-related brain activity (ERN) only in children involved with Child Protective Services (CPS).

Area of Science:

  • Child psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental psychopathology

Background:

  • Early adversity, including maltreatment, elevates risks for psychopathology and atypical neurological development in children.
  • Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement signifies exposure to adversity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between depressive symptoms and error-related brain activity (error-related negativity, ERN) in children with and without CPS involvement.
  • To understand how CPS involvement moderates the relationship between depressive symptoms and neural responses to errors.

Main Methods:

  • Examined depressive symptoms and ERN amplitude in children referred to CPS and in a comparison group.
  • Utilized electrophysiological measures to assess brain activity related to error processing.

Main Results:

  • The relationship between depressive symptoms and ERN amplitude differed based on CPS involvement.
  • Depressive symptoms were associated with blunted ERNs exclusively in children involved with CPS.

Conclusions:

  • CPS involvement alters the neural correlates of error processing in children with depressive symptoms.
  • Findings suggest that early adversity may impact the association between psychological symptoms and brain activity, informing future research on underlying mechanisms.

Keywords:
ERNdepressionmaltreatment

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