Externalizing Psychopathology and the Error-Related Negativity

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 psyc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Psychological science 2007-04, Vol.18 (4), p.326-333
Main Authors:	Hall, Jason R., Bernat, Edward M., Patrick, Christopher J.
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
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
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Summary:	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.
ISSN:	0956-7976 1467-9280