High Error Related Negativity is Associated with Behavioral Inhibition and Emotional Regulation During COVID-19 Lockdown.

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Behavioral Inhibition (BI), an early temperamental characteristic described by wariness, avoidance of novelty, and negative reactivity, has been associated with increased risk to of developing anxiety disorders. Error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative deflection in the event-related potential waveform that is elicited after making an error. ERN is a known biomarker of anxiety disorders and found to be a linking mechanism between BI in infancy and the development of anxiety in adolescence (Buzzel et. al., 2017; Meyer, 2017). The aim of the current study was to further assess the association between behavioral inhibition and error-sensitivity response as reflected by ERN components and to examine how these two factors predicted levels of anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

Seventy-five typically developing children (8-13 years) completed a Flanker task (Eriksen & Eriksen, 1974) while EEG was recorded. The task consisted of 330 trials, each presenting five horizontal arrowheads. In half of the trials, all the arrows were in the same direction; in the other half, the middle arrow was incongruent to the direction of the others. Participants were instructed to press the right or the left mouse button according to the middle arrow’s direction as quickly and accurately as possible. EEG was recorded with 32 channels, and two electrodes were placed on the mastoids. The data was offline bandpass filtered (0.1Hz-30Hz), and each electrode was re-referenced to the average of the mastoids. For eye blink corrections, we used Independent Component Analysis (ICA), and used a semi-automated procedure for artifact detection. Data from incongruent trials were segmented into 1500ms epochs starting 500ms before the response onset. The response-related ERPs were averaged separately for correct and error trials, and baseline corrected to a 200ms window before the response onset. We calculated ERN and CRN based on the average of 50ms centered around the peak between 0 to 100ms, at a pooling of fronto-central sites (Fz, Cz, FC1, FC2). To isolate the error-specific neural activity, we calculated a difference score for the ERN and CRN measures (ERN minus CRN).

BI levels were assessed by parental reports, using the BI questionnaire (BIQ), and anxiety levels were collected using SCARED self-reports. Fourteen months later, during the first wave of the COVID-19 lockdown, 41 participants from the original sample completed parent and child self-report questionnaires measuring COVID-19 related behaviors, focusing on anxiety and stress-related symptoms (CRISIS questionnaires).

Preliminary results indicate that as expected, participants showed more negative neural responses after an error than a correct response, F(1,67)=27.58, p<.000. In addition, participants high on BI (divided using a median split) showed a larger difference-wave than participants low on BI, possibly reflecting higher sensitivity to errors, t(66)=2.006, p<.05. Initial analysis of BI and ERN as measured 14 months ago and the relationship to anxiety indices from the recent COVID-19 lockdown, reveals that higher error sensitivity is related to less adaptive emotional regulation during COVID-19 lockdown, r(41)=-.32, p=.05. Results from this study will expand our knowledge of the developmental mechanisms and neural biomarkers of risks for anxiety.

Authors

• Gil Shner, University of Haifa
  Presenting Author

• Zohar Klein
  Non-Presenting Author

• Shaked Rosenblum
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tomer Shechner, University of Haifa
  Non-Presenting Author