Young children with high levels of generalized anxiety show a blunted neural response to reward

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Research regarding anxiety and reward processing in young children is minimal. Fluctuations in reward sensitivity have been previously shown to be associated with depressive rather than anxiety disorders. However, recent studies (Kessel et al., 2015) have reported that specific forms of anxiety are related to differences in reward processing in older children. Specifically, social anxiety has been linked to an enhanced response to reward, whereas generalized anxiety has been linked to a blunted response. Since anxiety disorders can develop early in life and also predicts adolescent and adult psychopathology (Copeland, Angold, Shanahan, & Costello, 2014), further research of aberrant reward processing in young children would allow for better understanding of mechanisms underlying pediatric anxiety. Event related potentials (ERPs) are a reliable method of assessing reward sensitivity in young children. This study uses the reward-related positivity (RewP), an ERP component that measures neural response to rewards compared to non-rewards, to test the predictions that, as in older children, young children with higher levels of generalized anxiety will show a blunted response to reward, whereas children with social anxiety will show a heighted response.

Participants were 98 4- to 8-year-old children (M = 5.47; Females = 60; 45% White, 31% African American, 24% other). To measure neural response to reward, children performed a simple equally probable Doors guessing task. In this task, children selected one of two doors presented on a screen and then received feedback about whether they won 10 points (green arrow) or lost 5 points (red arrow). The RewP was calculated as the difference between mean amplitudes of gains minus losses. A primary caregiver completed the Generalized Anxiety and Social Anxiety subscales of The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) to assess anxiety symptoms.

Consistent with the predictions, the findings revealed that children with higher levels of generalized anxiety symptoms exhibited a significantly smaller RewP (B = -.49, SE = .23, 95%CI[-.03--.96], p = .037), indicating a blunted response to reward. However, social anxiety was not associated with the RewP, suggesting potential specificity between reward processing and GAD in young children.

These results add to the limited literature on reward processing and generalized and social anxiety in young children. It is possible that the blunted response to reward seen in young children with higher levels of generalized anxiety is due to characteristic chronic worry causing reduced sensitivity to positive and/or negative feedback. Other studies have found that generalized anxiety may specifically blunt negative feedback (Jazbec et al., 2005) and could result in individuals being unable to understand or learn from negative situations. However, in contrast to findings with older children, there were no associations between social anxiety and reward sensitivity in the present study. It is possible that social anxiety may not be associated with reward sensitivity at this younger age, or that our study was underpowered to detect smaller differences between reward processing and social anxiety. These possibilities will be explored further through additional analyses.

Authors

• Cristal Giorio, Washington University in St. Louis
  Presenting Author

• Laura Hennefield, Washington University in St. Louis
  Non-Presenting Author