Transdiagnostic psychopathology in the light of robust single-trial event-related potentials.

Recent evidence indicates that event-related potentials (ERPs) as measured on the electroencephalogram (EEG) are more closely related to transdiagnostic, dimensional measures of psychopathology (TDP) than to diagnostic categories. A comprehensive examination of correlations between well-studied ERPs and measures of TDP is called for. In this study, we recruited 50 patients with emotional disorders undergoing 14 weeks of transdiagnostic group psychotherapy as well as 37 healthy comparison subjects (HC) matched in age and sex. HCs were assessed once and patients three times throughout treatment (N = 172 data sets) with a battery of well-studied ERPs and psychopathology measures consistent with the TDP framework The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP). ERPs were quantified using robust single-trial analysis (RSTA) methods and TDP correlations with linear regression models as implemented in the EEGLAB toolbox LIMO EEG. We found correlations at several levels of the HiTOP hierarchy. Among these, a reduced P3b was associated with the general p-factor. A reduced error-related negativity correlated strongly with worse symptomatology across the Internalizing spectrum. Increases in the correct-related negativity correlated with symptoms loading unto the Distress subfactor in the HiTOP. The Flanker N2 was related to specific symptoms of Intrusive Cognitions and Traumatic Re-experiencing and the mismatch negativity to maladaptive personality traits at the lowest levels of the HiTOP hierarchy. Our study highlights the advantages of RSTA methods and of using validated TDP constructs within a consistent framework. Future studies could utilize machine learning methods to predict TDP from a set of ERP features at the subject level.

Robust single-trial event-related potentials differentiate between distress and fear disorders.

Recent evidence indicates that measures of brain functioning as indexed by event-related potentials (ERPs) on the electroencephalogram align more closely to transdiagnostic measures of psychopathology than to categorical taxonomies. The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) is a transdiagnostic, dimensional framework aiming to solve issues of comorbidity, symptom heterogeneity, and arbitrary diagnostic boundaries. Based on shared features, the emotional disorders are allocated into subfactors Distress and Fear. Evidence indicates that disorders that are close in the HiTOP hierarchy share etiology, symptom profiles, and treatment outcomes. However, further studies testing the biological underpinnings of the HiTOP are called for. In this study, we assessed differences between Distress and Fear in a range of well-studied ERP components. In total, 50 patients with emotional disorders were divided into two groups (Distress, N = 25; Fear, N = 25) according to HiTOP criteria and compared against 37 healthy comparison (HC) subjects. Addressing issues in traditional ERP preprocessing and analysis methods, we applied robust single-trial analysis as implemented in the EEGLAB toolbox LIMO EEG. Several ERP components were found to differ between the groups. Surprisingly, we found no difference between Fear and HC for any of the ERPs. This suggests that some well-established results from the literature, e.g., increased error-related negativity in OCD, are not a shared neurobiological correlate of the Fear subfactor. Conversely, for Distress, we found reductions compared to Fear and HC in several ERP components across paradigms. Future studies could utilize HiTOP-validated psychopathology measures to more precisely define subfactor groups.