Poster #61 - Neural Reactivity to Frustration as Predictors of Psychopathology in Children

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Developmental Psychopathology

Integrative Statement

Emotion regulation (ER) difficulties are a risk factor for psychopathology (Althoff et al., 2010). Examining neural markers elicited in ER challenges among young children can advance our understanding of the early development of psychopathology and may help better identify children at-risk. Among children with high ER difficulties, such as children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; Scime & Norvilitis, 2006), these difficulties may partially explain increased risk for comorbid psychopathology (e.g., Seymour et al., 2014). However, little work has examined neural markers of ER in young children or children at-risk for ADHD. Thus, the current study assessed whether 1) event-related potentials (ERPs) during and after a frustration task that poses an ER challenge predict later symptoms of psychopathology, and 2) if these neural markers mediate the relation between early ADHD symptoms and later symptoms of psychopathology.
Participants were 49 children (33 boys) oversampled for ADHD symptoms who took part in a laboratory visit between ages 4 to 7 (Time 1; T1) and a follow-up visit 18 months later (Time 2; T2). At T1, children completed a modified Affective Posner task (Authors, 2016) while wearing an EEG cap. In the baseline block, children received accurate performance feedback on a simple computer task. For the frustration block, children received erroneous feedback that their responses were incorrect. Next, children were told to mask their frustration during a regulation block, followed by a recovery block in which the computer returned to providing accurate feedback. ERP markers of attention allocation (P1 and P3) and inhibitory control (N2) were evaluated. At T1 and T2, children and parents completed measures of child psychopathology. Regression analyses (controlling for T1 psychopathology) indicated that during the frustration block at T1, larger P1 and P3 amplitudes and attenuated N2s predicted greater T2 depression symptoms. Attenuated N2 during the regulation block at T1 also predicted greater T2 depression symptoms, and larger P3 in this block at T1 predicted greater T2 depression and aggression symptoms. During the recovery block at T1, attenuated P1 and larger N2 predicted greater T2 depression and aggression symptoms; attenuated P3 predicted greater T2 depression symptoms. In addition, P3 during recovery was a significant mediator; higher T1 ADHD symptoms predicted attenuated P3 during recovery, which in turn predicted greater depression symptoms (β=.18, SE=.08, p=.02).
In sum, young children who exhibited neural markers indicating more attention and less inhibitory control during a frustration task were at-risk for later psychopathology. Importantly, neural differences remained after frustration when children at-risk for psychopathology then allocated less attention and more inhibitory control. Results showed that children at-risk for psychopathology focused heavily on the task when frustrated but when the game was no longer frustrating they were depleted of attentional resources (attenuated P1, P3) but still attempted to increase efforts towards performance (increased N2). These findings suggest that neural markers elicited in ER challenges indicate vulnerability to psychopathology, particularly among high-risk children, and highlight new directions for interventions focused on increasing ER skills in young at-risk children.

Authors

• Hallie Brown, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Presenting Author

• Maya Hareli, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rosanna P Breaux, Virginia Commonwealth University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Claudia I Lugo-Candelas, Columbia University Medical Center/NYSPI
  Non-Presenting Author

• Shannon Gair, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elizabeth A Harvey, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jennifer M. McDermott, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Non-Presenting Author