TABLE 1.
Error-related negativity (ERN) and pediatric obsessive compulsive and anxiety disorders: a summary of the published literature
| Study | Age (yrs) | Patient type | Design | Paradigm | Main results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anxiety Disorders | |||||
| Ladouceur et al., 200619 | 8–14 | AD | Group comparison: AD (n = 12) v HC (n = 13) |
Flanker (arrow) | Increased ERN in AD compared to HC. |
| Carrasco et al., 201311,a | 8–16 | AD, OCD | Group comparison: AD (n = 13) v OCD (n = 26) v HC (n = 27) |
Flanker (arrow) | Increased ERN in both AD and OCD groups compared to HC. |
| Meyer et al., 201320,b | 5–7 | AD | Group comparison: AD (n = 48) v HC (n = 48) |
Go/NoGo | Increased ERN in AD compared to HC at young age (~6 years) |
| Santesso et al., 200670 | 10 +/− .25 | OCS, AS* | Correlational: ERN α OCS, AS |
Flanker (letter) | Greater ERN correlates with higher OCS. No significant relationship of ERN with AS. |
| OCD | |||||
| Hajcak et al., 20089 | 8–17 | OCD | Before CBT/After CBT: OCD (n = 18/10) v HC (n = 18/13) |
Simon | Increased ERN in OCD compared to HC before and after CBT, despite symptom reduction, suggests increased ERN is trait (not state) marker of OCD |
| Hanna et al., 201210,a | 10–19 | OCD +/− tics | Group comparison: OCD (n = 44) v OCD + tic (n = 9) v HC (n = 44) |
Increased ERN in non-tic related OCD compared to both tic-related OCD and HC, suggests OCD with and without tics are neurobiologically different subtypes. | |
| Carrasco et al., 201311,a | 10–17 | OCD, unaffected sibs | Group comparison: OCD (n = 40) v US (n = 19) v HC (n = 40) |
Increased ERN in both OCD and US groups compared to HC, suggesting ERN as biomarker for genetic risk of OCD. | |
| Community Samples | |||||
| Torpey et al., 201371,b | 5–7 | n/a | Correlational: ERN α behavioral fear at 3 yrs (n = 328) |
Go/NoGo | Greater ERN at ~6 years correlates with lower behavioral fear at ~3 years. |
| Meyer et al., 201218,c | 8–13 | n/a | Correlational: ERN α SCARED (n = 55) |
Flanker (arrow) | Greater ERN correlates with lower anxiety at 8–10 years, but higher anxiety at 11–13 years. |
| Bress et al., 201572,c | 11–13 | n/a | Correlational: ERN α SCARED & CDI (n = 25) |
Flanker (arrow) | Greater ERN correlates with higher anxiety; contrasted with inverse relationship of depressive symptoms with feedback related negativity, a neurophysiological marker of reward |
| McDermott et al., 200913 | 14–16 | n/a | Longitudinal: BI, ERN as predictors later anxiety (n = 82) |
Flanker (letter) | Greater ERN in at adolescence (14–16 yrs) moderates relationship of early inhibited temperament (2–3 yrs) with anxiety disorder in adolescence (14–16 yrs) |
| Lahat et al., 201412 | 7.7 +/− .25 | n/a | Longitudinal: BI, ERN as predictors later anxiety (n = 113) |
Flanker (fish) | Greater ERN at ~7 years moderates relationship of early inhibited temperament (2–3 yrs) with social phobia symptoms at 9 years. |
Anxiety disorder (AD) samples included generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, social phobia, and specific phobia. There were no obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) diagnoses in any AD sample, except for the study by Meyer et al,20 in which 2 of 48 AD patients had comorbid OCD (with other ADs). HC = healthy control; ERN = error-related negativity; CBT = cognitive behavior therapy; US = unaffected siblings; SCARED = Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders; CDI = Child Depression Inventory; BI = behavioral inhibition.
OCS = obsessive compulsive symptoms in a community (ie, nonclinical) ranged from none to subclinical based on parent report on the obsessive-compulsive subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) (Achenbach, 1991). Non-OCD anxiety symptoms (AS) were also examined in the same sample using the CBCL.
Partial subject overlap across studies.