Externalizing Psychopathology and the Error-Related Negativity

• Published in: Psychological science Vol. 18; no. 4; pp. 326 - 333
• Main Authors: Hall, Jason R., Bernat, Edward M., Patrick, Christopher J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Blackwell Publishing 01.04.2007; SAGE Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adult; Affect; Aggression; Antisocial behavior; Behavioral sciences; Brain; Brain Mapping; Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders - psychology; Emotionality; Endogenous; Epidemiology; Female; Human aggression; Humans; Impulsivity; Male; Morbidity; Neurobiology; Neurology; Oscillation; Personality disorders; Personality Disorders - diagnosis; Personality Inventory; Personality psychology; Personality traits; Phenotypic traits; Psychology; Psychopathology; Psychophysiology; Scalp; Self report; Selfmonitoring; Socialization; Substance abuse; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 0956-7976; 1467-9280
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01899.x

Prior research has demonstrated that antisocial behavior, substance-use disorders, and personality dimensions of aggression and impulsivity are indicators of a highly heritable underlying dimension of risk, labeled externalizing. Other work has shown that individual trait constructs within this psychopathology spectrum are associated with reduced self-monitoring, as reflected by amplitude of the error-related negativity (ERN) brain response. In this study of undergraduate subjects, reduced ERN amplitude was associated with higher scores on a self-report measure of the broad externalizing construct that links these various indicators. In addition, the ERN was associated with a response-locked increase in anterior theta (4-7 Hz) oscillation; like the ERN, this theta response to errors was reduced among high-externalizing individuals. These findings suggest that neurobiologically based deficits in endogenous action monitoring may underlie generalized risk for an array of impulse-control problems.