A registered report of a two-site study of variations of the flanker task: ERN experimental effects and data quality.

Error-related negativity is a widely used measure of error monitoring, and many projects are independently moving ERN recorded during a flanker task toward standardization, optimization, and eventual clinical application. However, each project uses a different version of the flanker task and tacitly assumes ERN is functionally equivalent across each version. The routine neglect of a rigorous test of this assumption undermines efforts to integrate ERN findings across tasks, optimize and standardize ERN assessment, and widely apply ERN in clinical trials. The purpose of this registered report was to determine whether ERN shows similar experimental effects (correct vs. error trials) and data quality (intraindividual variability) during three commonly used versions of a flanker task. ERN was recorded from 172 participants during three versions of a flanker task across two study sites. ERN scores showed numerical differences between tasks, raising questions about the comparability of ERN findings across studies and tasks. Although ERN scores from all three versions of the flanker task yielded high data quality and internal consistency, one version did outperform the other two in terms of the size of experimental effects and the data quality. Exploratory analyses of the error positivity (Pe) provided tentative support for the other two versions of the task over the paradigm that appeared optimal for ERN. The present study provides a roadmap for how to statistically compare psychometric characteristics of ERP scores across paradigms and gives preliminary recommendations for flanker tasks to use for ERN- and Pe-focused studies.

Registered replication report of the construct validity of the error-related negativity (ERN): A multi-site study of task-specific ERN correlations with internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Intact cognitive control is critical for goal-directed behavior and is widely studied using the error-related negativity (ERN). A common assumption in such studies is that ERNs recorded during different experimental paradigms reflect the same construct or functionally equivalent processes and that ERN is functionally distinct from other error-monitoring event-related brain potentials (ERPs; error positivity [Pe]), other neurophysiological indices of cognitive control (N2), and even other theoretically unrelated indices (visual N1). The present registered report represents a replication-plus-extension study of the psychometric validity of cognitive control ERPs and evaluated the convergent and divergent validity of ERN, Pe, N2, and visual N1 recorded during flanker, Stroop, and Go/no-go tasks. Data from 182 participants were collected from two study sites, and ERP psychometric reliability and validity were evaluated. Findings supported replication of convergent and divergent validity of ERN, Pe, and ΔPe (error minus correct)-these ERPs correlated more with themselves across tasks than with other ERPs measured during the same task. Convergent validity of ΔERN across tasks was not replicated, despite high internal consistency. ERN strongly correlated with N2 at levels similar or higher than those in support of convergent validity for other ERPs, and the present study failed to provide evidence of divergent validity for ERN and Pe from N2 or N1. ERN and ΔERN were unrelated to internalizing or externalizing symptoms. Findings underscore the importance of considering the psychometric validity of ERPs, as it provides a foundation for interpreting and comparing ERPs across tasks and studies.

Threat effects on attention networks in individuals with a history of externalizing behaviors.

Research identifying the biobehavioral processes that link threat exposure to cognitive alterations can inform treatments designed to reduce perpetration of stress-induced aggression. The present study attempted to specify the effects of relatively predictable versus unpredictable threat on two attention networks, attentional alerting and executive control. In a sample of adults (n = 74, 35 % identifying as women, Mage = 32.85) with high rates of externalizing behaviors (e.g., substance use, criminal/legal system involvement, aggressivity), we measured event-related brain activity during an attention network test that manipulated cognitive systems activation under relatively unpredictable and predictable threat conditions. Results showed that threat exposure alters attentional alerting and executive control. The predictable threat condition, relative to unpredictable threat, increased visual alerting (N1 amplitude to alert vs. no alert cue conditions) and decreased attention to the task (P3 amplitude to subsequent task-relevant flankers, but these effects did not survive adjusting for multiple tests. In contrast, overall threat and unpredictable threat conditions were associated with faster response time to alert cue (versus no cue) and poorer conflict processing, operationalized as flanker N2 reductions and slower response time to incongruent (versus congruent) flanker trials. These results expand what is known about threat-related modulation of cognition in a sample of individuals with histories of externalizing behaviors.

Threat effects on cognitive systems: Testing links to aggression proneness.

The biobehavioral study of aggression has implications for expanding our understanding of transdiagnostic processes that increase risk for disinhibited behaviors. Toward this end, our study tested tenets from the process model of aggression (Verona & Bresin, 2015). First, we expected that the predictability of threat would differentially alter cognitive networks, including attentional alerting and executive control. Second, we examined the moderating effects of self- and informant reports of aggression on threat-related changes in cognitive functioning. Using event-related potential (ERP) measures of cognitive-attentional processes, 143 community individuals participated in a well-validated and translational threat manipulation (NPU) task (Schmitz & Grillon, 2012) while completing the Attention Network Test (Fan et al., 2002). Analyses revealed that relatively unpredictable threat quickened alerting-related reaction time, whereas predictable threat interfered with processing of flanker task stimuli. The results, however, failed to show reliable relationships between aggression proneness and threat-related cognitive alterations. The findings fit with a broader literature on cognitive and behavioral outputs of threat activation and provide fruitful avenues for better understanding threat-related aggression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Threat-induced alterations in cognition and associations with dysregulated behavior.

Previous literature suggests that threat disrupts cognitive control, especially for those prone to engaging in dysregulated behaviors (i.e., maladaptive attempts at regulating stress). However, this relationship is not well understood and has yet to be directly examined. The current study extends previous literature by examining the link between individual differences in dysregulation and threat-related alterations in neurocognitive and behavioral indicators of cognitive control. Using a diverse community sample (N = 143), we recorded participants' brain activity during a flanker task under conditions of predictable, unpredictable, and no threat-of-shock. Findings revealed a nuanced relationship, whereby predictable threat, relative to unpredictable threat, was associated with larger N2 to flankers, perhaps at the expense of a reduced later P3. We also found a relationship between proneness toward dysregulated behaviors and threat-induced alterations of cognitive control, with those higher in dysregulation showing reduced conflict P3 differentiation and accuracy interference during threat vs. no threat conditions. This research expands what is known about how threat can modulate cognition in everyday life and linked it to dysregulated behaviors with high societal burden.

Psychopathic traits, inhibition, and positive and negative emotion: Results from an emotional Go/No-Go task.

Difficulty stopping unwanted or inappropriate actions (i.e., inhibitory control) is implicated in antisocial behaviors, which are common in people high in psychopathic traits. Recent research indicates that, for those with antisocial personality, inhibitory control is impaired under negative emotional contexts; however, it is unclear whether this impairment extends to persons with psychopathic traits and to impairments under positive emotional contexts. Identifying some of these distinctions can point to therapeutics that target negative emotion specifically or emotion dysregulation broadly. We sought to identify unique relationships between distinct facets of psychopathy and inhibitory control in the context of positive, negative, and neutral stimuli. Using a community sample (N = 117), event-related potentials were recorded during an emotional-linguistic Go/No-Go task. Results indicated distinct cognition-emotion relationships for each psychopathy facet. Higher interpersonal facet scores related to reciprocal interference between cognition and emotion. Higher callous affect facet scores related to reduced inhibitory and emotional processing, except when stimuli were most engaging (emotional No-Go trials). Higher erratic lifestyle facet scores related to increased effort required to process both emotion and inhibition cues. Finally, higher antisocial facet scores related to poorer behavioral inhibition overall. This research challenges the theoretical accounts of psychopathy focused on specific deficits in negative emotion, such as fearlessness, while offering some support for theories related to attentional dysfunction. Results also highlight the importance of facet-level theorizing, as results varied by facet. This study may inform efforts to reduce disinhibited behaviors, particularly in emotional contexts, among those high in certain psychopathic traits.

Electrocortical Effects of Acetaminophen during Emotional Picture Viewing, Cognitive Control, and Negative Feedback.

Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, may have psychological effects, such as reducing social and emotional pain. The current study (N = 173) used electroencephalography (EEG) to extend past research on acetaminophen. Healthy undergraduate students (64.7% women, age M = 18.15, SD = 3.33) were randomly assigned to ingest 1,000 mg of acetaminophen or placebo before completing emotional picture viewing (n = 143), a flanker task (n = 69), and a probabilistic learning task (n = 143) while EEG was recorded. (Sample sizes used for the analyses of each task differ from the total N due to data loss.) We observed standard event-related potentials (ERPs), including emotion-modulated late positive potentials during picture viewing and feedback-related negativity during feedback on the probabilistic learning task. We also observed standard error-related and conflict-related ERPs in the flanker task but could not adequately assess acetaminophen's effect on flanker ERPs due to excessive data loss. Acetaminophen did not alter any of the ERPs, in contrast to predictions based on prior research. Exploratory analyses revealed that acetaminophen reduced the relationship between trait behavioral inhibition system sensitivity and emotion-modulated late positive potentials. Together these findings suggest that a standard dose of acetaminophen did not reliably alter neural indicators of emotional or feedback processing. Instead, preliminary findings from our study suggested that a more nuanced relationship may exist between acetaminophen and individual differences in emotional processing, although this latter finding calls for further replication.

Facets of externalizing psychopathology in relation to inhibitory control and error processing.

A prominent characteristic of externalizing psychopathology is the inability to suppress or modulate behavioral responses and impulses. These tendencies have been associated with cognitive indicators of inhibitory control (P3) and error processing (error-related negativity [ERN] and positivity [Pe]). However, the extent to which these trait-like components are characteristic of specific manifestations, or externalizing proneness more generally, remains unclear. Our study aimed to further contextualize externalizing behaviors by examining associations between distinct facets of externalizing symptoms and relevant behavioral phenotypes (substance use, aggression, pathological personality and internalizing symptoms) as well as electrophysiological and behavioral indices of inhibitory control (congruence and no-go P3, flanker interference, commission errors) and error processing (ERN and Pe, post-error slowing). Using a sample of community and jail dwelling offenders (N = 497), we used Confirmatory Factor Analyses to estimate a general externalizing factor (EXT), representing shared variance, and latent factors representing symptoms related to callous-aggression (CAL; conduct disorder and antisocial personality disorder) and alcohol and drug dependence (AD and DD). Additionally, a subset of participants (N = 89) had their brain activity recorded during a flanker task. Factor analyses supported general EXT and CAL factors; however, unique AD/DD overlapped highly with shared EXT, suggesting that DSM substance use symptoms in our study reflect more general problems with disconstraint/impulsivity rather than variance specific to substances. The general EXT was marked by behavioral correlates of impulsivity and negative affect, and laboratory task deficits in error monitoring, but with greater differential processing of inhibitory cues. The CAL specific factor was associated with affective shallowness phenotype, and, interestingly, laboratory measures of enhanced processing of inhibitory cues and error adjustment. This research has implications for understanding neurocognitive processes associated with distinct manifestations of disordered behavioral inhibition.