Exploring Longitudinal Associations Among Error-Related Negativity, Perception of Interpersonal Events, and...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Psychopathology

Background:

• Heightened error-related negativity (ERN), a neural marker of error sensitivity, is linked to adolescent internalizing symptoms.
• Maladaptive appraisals of interpersonal events also correlate with internalizing symptoms in adolescents.
• Developmental pathways linking ERN, event perceptions, and internalizing symptoms require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test a developmental model where enhanced ERN prospectively predicts negative perceptions of family and peer events.
• To examine if negative event perceptions mediate the relationship between ERN and subsequent internalizing symptoms.
• To investigate the reverse pathway where internalizing symptoms mediate the association between ERN and event perceptions.

Main Methods:

• A sample of 79 female adolescents (ages 11-16) was studied, including 36 with mothers with internalizing disorder histories.
• Error-related negativity (ERN) was measured using electroencephalogram (EEG) during a flanker task.
• Self-report measures of perceptions of family/peer events and internalizing symptoms were collected at baseline and 6-month follow-up.
• Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the proposed developmental pathways.

Main Results:

• Partial support was found for the hypothesized pathways.
• For family events, baseline ERN predicted increases in internalizing symptoms, mediated by increased negative perceptions of family events.
• For peer events, internalizing symptoms mediated the prospective association between baseline ERN and increased negative perceptions of peer events.

Conclusions:

• The findings suggest complex, partially distinct developmental pathways linking neural sensitivity to errors, interpersonal event appraisals, and internalizing symptoms in adolescent females.
• The model highlights the role of negative family event perceptions in mediating the ERN-internalizing symptom link.
• For peer events, internalizing symptoms appear to play a mediating role in the ERN-event perception relationship, suggesting reciprocal influences warranting further study.