Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 87565640903265103, Nov 1, 2009
The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related brain potential observed in adults when er... more The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related brain potential observed in adults when errors are committed, and which appears to be sensitive to error value. Recent work suggests that the ERN can also be elicited in relatively young children using simple tasks and that ERN amplitude might be sensitive to error value. The current study employed a Go No-Go paradigm in which 5-7-year-old children (N = 18) earned low or high points for correct responses. Results indicated that errors were associated with an ERN; however, the size was not reliably moderated by error value.
The error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative deflection in the event-related potential (ERP) ... more The error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative deflection in the event-related potential (ERP) occurring approximately 50Â ms after error commission at fronto-central electrode sites and is thought to reflect the activation of a generic error monitoring system. Several studies have reported an increased ERN in clinically anxious children, and suggest that anxious children are more sensitive to error commission-although the mechanisms underlying this association are not clear. We have previously found that punishing errors results in a larger ERN, an effect that persists after punishment ends. It is possible that learning-related experiences that impact sensitivity to errors may lead to an increased ERN. In particular, punitive parenting might sensitize children to errors and increase their ERN. We tested this possibility in the current study by prospectively examining the relationship between parenting style during early childhood and children's ERN approximately 3Â years later....
Cytolytic T lymphocytes play an important role in host defense against viral infections, includin... more Cytolytic T lymphocytes play an important role in host defense against viral infections, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In a phase I clinical trial (protocol 080 of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group), generation of CD8+ effector cells from peripheral blood of patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related complex (ARC) or AIDS and safety of autologous adoptive transfer of these cells were evaluated. For therapeutic infusions, CD8+ T cells were purified by positive selection on anti-CD8 monoclonal antibody-coated flasks from leukapheresed peripheral blood of seven patients. These CD8+ T cells were cultured in the presence of interleukin-2 and phytohemagglutinin for up to 3 weeks to obtain cells sufficient for therapeutic infusions (10(8) to 10(10)). All 31 cell cultures established from the seven patients and used for therapy were highly enriched in CD8+ (mean, 97%), CD8+HLA-DR+ (50%), cytotoxic CD8+CD11b- (82%), and memory CD29+ (78%) T lymphocytes. In v...
The effects of selective attention on the neural response to the violation of musical syntax were... more The effects of selective attention on the neural response to the violation of musical syntax were investigated in the present study. Musical chord progressions were played to nonmusicians while Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) were recorded. The five-chord progressions included 61% harmonically expected cadences (I-I(6)-IV-V-I), 26% harmonically unexpected cadences (I-I(6)-IV-V-N(6)), and 13% with one of the five chords having an intensity fadeout across its duration. During the attended condition, subjects responded by pressing a button upon detecting a fadeout in volume; during the unattended condition, subjects were given reading comprehension materials and instructed to ignore all auditory stimuli. In response to the harmonic deviant, an Early Anterior Negativity (EAN) was observed at 150-300 ms in both attention conditions, but it was much larger in amplitude in the attended condition. A second scalp-negative deflection was also identified at 380-600 ms following the harmonic deviants; this Late Negativity onset earlier during the attended condition. These results suggest strong effects of attention on the neural processing of harmonic syntax.
LYMPHOCYTES expressing the CD8 surface antigen T are thought to include a subset of lymphocytes w... more LYMPHOCYTES expressing the CD8 surface antigen T are thought to include a subset of lymphocytes with antiviral functions.'.' Both antigen-specific CD8+ T lympho- cytes (cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTL)) as well as nonspecific or non-major histocompatibility complex (MHQ-restricted CD8+ T-effector cells3 may play an important role in host defense against viral infections! Recently, it has been found that T lymphocytes expressing
Previous research has examined the role of parenting in the development of depression and anxiety... more Previous research has examined the role of parenting in the development of depression and anxiety disorders using retrospective reports of parenting behaviors. However, most studies have not considered comorbidity; the few that have did not differentially examine individual anxiety disorders and yielded inconsistent results. The present study compared retrospective parenting reports given by depressed individuals with no comorbid anxiety disorder, comorbid panic disorder, and comorbid social anxiety disorder. Results indicated that depressed men with panic disorder reported significantly greater maternal and nonsignificantly greater paternal protectiveness than depressed men without panic disorder but not than depressed women with and without panic disorder. No differences were found for the retrospective parenting reports given by depressed participants with or without social anxiety disorder. This work highlights the importance of examining specific anxiety disorders rather than grouping all depressed patients with any anxiety disorder together, as well as examining males and females separately when investigating the influence of parental behavior.
The late positive potential (LPP) is an event-related potential component that indexes selective ... more The late positive potential (LPP) is an event-related potential component that indexes selective attention toward motivationally salient information and is sensitive to emotional stimuli. Few studies have examined the LPP in children. Depression has been associated with reduced reactivity to negative and positive emotional stimuli, including reduced LPPs in response to emotional faces. The current study sought to identify the time course and scalp distribution of the LPP in response to emotional faces in young children and to determine whether reduced reactivity is observed among children at risk for depression. Electrocortical reactivity to emotional faces was examined in a large sample of young children and as a function of maternal and paternal depression. In the overall sample, emotional faces were associated with increased positivities compared to neutral faces at occipital sites 200-600 ms after stimulus onset and at parietal sites 600-1,000 ms after stimulus onset. Children of mothers with a history of depressive disorders exhibited reduced differentiation in the early occipital LPP for emotional compared to neutral faces. Results suggest that children as young as 6 years exhibit LPPs to emotional faces, and patterns of electrocortical reactivity to emotional stimuli may be associated with vulnerability to depressive disorders.
There is increasing interest in error-related brain activity in anxiety disorders. The error-rela... more There is increasing interest in error-related brain activity in anxiety disorders. The error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative deflection in the event-related potential approximately 50 ms after errors compared to correct responses. Recent studies suggest that the ERN may be a biomarker for anxiety, as it is positively associated with anxiety disorders and traits in adults and older youth. However, it is not known if the ERN in young children is related to risk for anxiety disorders. We addressed this by examining the association of six-year olds' ERNs with two established risk factors for anxiety: parental anxiety disorder and child temperamental negative emotionality (NE). The ERN was assessed using a Go/No-Go task in a community sample of 413 six-year olds. In a prior assessment at age 3, child temperament was evaluated using a laboratory observational measure and parental psychopathology was assessed using semi-structured diagnostic interviews. Children of mothers with anxiety disorders and children with greater temperamental NE (particularly fearfulness) exhibited significantly smaller ERNs than their peers. Paternal psychopathology, maternal mood and substance use disorders, and child positive emotionality were not associated with children's ERNs. Both maternal anxiety disorders and child NE (particularly fearfulness) were significantly associated with children's ERNs. However, the direction of these associations was opposite to the relations between ERNs and anxiety in older youth and adults. These results suggest that there may be a difference between risk and disorder status in the relation of error-related brain activity to anxiety between early childhood and late childhood/ early adolescence.
Anxiety disorders are the most frequently diagnosed form of psychopathology in children and often... more Anxiety disorders are the most frequently diagnosed form of psychopathology in children and often result in chronic impairment that persists into adulthood. Identifying neurobehavioral correlates of anxiety that appear relatively early in life would inform etiological models of development and allow intervention and prevention strategies to be implemented more effectively. The error-related negativity (ERN), a negative deflection in the event-related potential at fronto-central sites approximately 50 ms following the commission of errors, has been consistently found to be larger among anxious adults. The current study sought to extend these findings to even younger individuals: the ERN was elicited by a Go/NoGo task in 48 six year-old children with a clinical anxiety disorder assessed by diagnostic interview and 48 age-matched controls. In addition to child anxiety disorder, the ERN was examined in relation to maternal history of anxiety disorder, which was previously related to a smaller ERN. Anxious children were characterized by a larger (i.e., more negative) ERN and maternal history of anxiety disorder was associated with a smaller ERN. Thus, the relationship between an increased ERN and clinical anxiety is evident by age 6, and this effect appears independent from an opposing influence of maternal anxiety history on the ERN. These findings support the ERN as a promising neurobehavioral marker of anxiety, and implications are discussed.
Attentional biases for negative stimuli have been observed in school-age and adolescent children ... more Attentional biases for negative stimuli have been observed in school-age and adolescent children of depressed mothers and may reflect a vulnerability to depression. The direction of these biases and whether they can be identified in early childhood remains unclear. The current study examined attentional biases in 5-7-year-old children of depressed and non-depressed mothers. Following a mood induction, children participated in a dot-probe task assessing biases for sad and happy faces. There was a significant interaction of group and sex: daughters of depressed mothers attended selectively to sad faces, while children of controls and sons of depressed mothers did not exhibit biases. No effects were found for happy stimuli. These findings suggest that attentional biases are discernible in early childhood and may be vulnerability markers for depression. The results also raise the possibility that sex differences in cognitive biases are evident before the emergence of sex differences in the prevalence of depression.
The current study examined behavioral measures and responselocked event-related brain potentials ... more The current study examined behavioral measures and responselocked event-related brain potentials (ERPs) derived from a Go/No-Go task in a large (N ¼ 328) sample of 5-to 7-year-olds in order to better understand the early development of response monitoring and the impact of child age and sex. In particular, the error-related negativity (ERN, defined on both error trials alone and the difference between error and correct trials, or DERN), correct response negativity (CRN), and error positivity (P e ) were examined. Overall, the ERN, CRN, and the P e were spatially and temporally similar to those measured in adults and older children. Even within our narrow age range, older children were faster and more accurate; a more negative DERN and a more positive P e were associated with: increasing age, increased accuracy, and faster reaction times on errors, suggesting these enhanced components reflected more efficient response monitoring of errors over development. Girls were slower and more accurate than boys, although both genders exhibited comparable ERPs. Younger children and girls were characterized by increased posterror slowing, although they did not demonstrate improved posterror accuracy. Posterror slowing was also related to a larger P e and reduced posterror accuracy. Collectively, these data suggest that posterror slowing may be unrelated to cognitive control and may, like the P e , reflect an orienting response to errors. ß 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 54: 139-150, 2012.
The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related brain potential observed in adults when er... more The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related brain potential observed in adults when errors are committed, and which appears to be sensitive to error value. Recent work suggests that the ERN can also be elicited in relatively young children using simple tasks and that ERN amplitude might be sensitive to error value. The current study employed a Go No-Go paradigm in which 5-7-year-old children (N = 18) earned low or high points for correct responses. Results indicated that errors were associated with an ERN; however, the size was not reliably moderated by error value.
Researchers have long been interested in whether particular temperamental traits in childhood con... more Researchers have long been interested in whether particular temperamental traits in childhood connote risk for depressive disorders. For example, children characterized as having high negative emotionality (NE; sadness, fear, anger) and low positive emotionality (PE; anhedonia, listlessness, and lack of enthusiasm) are hypothesized to be at risk for depression. Few studies, however, have examined whether (and how) these two temperamental dimensions interact to confer risk. In a sample of 329 preschoolers, the present study addressed this question by examining the relation between PE and NE and asymmetry in resting EEG activity in frontal and posterior regions, which are putative biomarkers for depression. Using a laboratory battery to define temperament, we found an interaction of PE and NE on posterior asymmetry. Specifically, when PE was high, NE was associated with greater relative right activity. When PE was low, NE was not related to posterior asymmetry. These results were driven by differences in EEG activity in right posterior regions, an area associated with emotional processing and arousal, and were specific to girls. We found no relation between temperament and frontal asymmetry. These findings suggest that, at least for girls, PE and NE may have an interactive effect on risk for depression.
Emotion knowledge in childhood has been shown to predict social functioning and psychological wel... more Emotion knowledge in childhood has been shown to predict social functioning and psychological well-being, but relatively little is known about parental factors that influence its development in early childhood. There is some evidence that both parenting behavior and maternal depression are associated with emotion recognition, but previous research has only examined these factors independently. The current study assessed auditory and visual emotion recognition ability among a large sample of preschool children to examine typical emotion recognition skills in children of this age, as well as the independent and interactive effects of maternal and paternal depression and negative parenting (i.e., hostility and intrusiveness). Results indicated that children were most accurate at identifying happy emotional expressions. The lowest accuracy was observed for neutral expressions. A significant interaction was found between maternal depression and negative parenting behavior: children with a maternal history of depression were particularly sensitive to the negative effects of maladaptive parenting behavior on emotion recognition ability. No significant effects were found for paternal depression. These results highlight the importance of examining the effects of multiple interacting factors on children's emotional development and provide suggestions for identifying children for targeted preventive interventions.
Objectives: Dysphagia is an important consequence of many diseases. As some of the muscles of deg... more Objectives: Dysphagia is an important consequence of many diseases. As some of the muscles of deglutition tend to be deep to the surface, needle electrodes are typically used, but this limits the number of muscles that can be simultaneously recorded. Since control of swallowing involves central pattern generators (CPGs) which distribute commands to several muscles, monitoring several muscles simultaneously is desirable. Here we describe a novel method, based on computing the independent components (ICs) of the simultaneous sEMG recordings (Muscle Nerve Suppl 9 (2000) 9) to detect the underlying functional muscle activations during swallowing using only surface EMG (sEMG) electrodes.
Fear conditioning has provided a useful model system for studying associative emotional learning,... more Fear conditioning has provided a useful model system for studying associative emotional learning, but the impact of healthy aging has gone relatively unexplored. The present study investigated fear conditioning across the adult life span in humans. A delay discrimination task was employed using visual conditioned stimuli and an auditory unconditioned stimulus. Awareness of the reinforcement contingencies was assessed in a postexperimental interview. Compared with young adult participants, middle-aged and older adults displayed reductions in unconditioned responding, discriminant conditioning, and contingency awareness. When awareness and overall arousability were taken into consideration, there were no residual effects of aging on conditioning. These results highlight the importance of considering the influence of declarative knowledge when interpreting age-associated changes in discriminative conditioned learning.
Perceptual priming for emotionally-negative and neutral scenes was tested in early-stage Alzheime... more Perceptual priming for emotionally-negative and neutral scenes was tested in early-stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and healthy younger, middle-aged and older adults. In the study phase, participants rated the scenes for their arousal properties. In the test phase, studied and novel scenes were initially presented subliminally, and the exposure duration was gradually increased until a valence categorization was made. The difference in exposure duration required to categorize novel versus studied items was the dependent measure of priming. Aversive content increased the magnitude of priming, an effect that was preserved in healthy aging and AD. Results from an immediate recognition memory test showed that the priming effects could not be attributable to enhanced explicit memory for the aversive scenes. These findings implicate a dissociation between the modulatory effect of emotion across implicit and explicit forms of memory in aging and early-stage AD.
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 87565640903265103, Nov 1, 2009
The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related brain potential observed in adults when er... more The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related brain potential observed in adults when errors are committed, and which appears to be sensitive to error value. Recent work suggests that the ERN can also be elicited in relatively young children using simple tasks and that ERN amplitude might be sensitive to error value. The current study employed a Go No-Go paradigm in which 5-7-year-old children (N = 18) earned low or high points for correct responses. Results indicated that errors were associated with an ERN; however, the size was not reliably moderated by error value.
The error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative deflection in the event-related potential (ERP) ... more The error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative deflection in the event-related potential (ERP) occurring approximately 50Â ms after error commission at fronto-central electrode sites and is thought to reflect the activation of a generic error monitoring system. Several studies have reported an increased ERN in clinically anxious children, and suggest that anxious children are more sensitive to error commission-although the mechanisms underlying this association are not clear. We have previously found that punishing errors results in a larger ERN, an effect that persists after punishment ends. It is possible that learning-related experiences that impact sensitivity to errors may lead to an increased ERN. In particular, punitive parenting might sensitize children to errors and increase their ERN. We tested this possibility in the current study by prospectively examining the relationship between parenting style during early childhood and children's ERN approximately 3Â years later....
Cytolytic T lymphocytes play an important role in host defense against viral infections, includin... more Cytolytic T lymphocytes play an important role in host defense against viral infections, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In a phase I clinical trial (protocol 080 of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group), generation of CD8+ effector cells from peripheral blood of patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related complex (ARC) or AIDS and safety of autologous adoptive transfer of these cells were evaluated. For therapeutic infusions, CD8+ T cells were purified by positive selection on anti-CD8 monoclonal antibody-coated flasks from leukapheresed peripheral blood of seven patients. These CD8+ T cells were cultured in the presence of interleukin-2 and phytohemagglutinin for up to 3 weeks to obtain cells sufficient for therapeutic infusions (10(8) to 10(10)). All 31 cell cultures established from the seven patients and used for therapy were highly enriched in CD8+ (mean, 97%), CD8+HLA-DR+ (50%), cytotoxic CD8+CD11b- (82%), and memory CD29+ (78%) T lymphocytes. In v...
The effects of selective attention on the neural response to the violation of musical syntax were... more The effects of selective attention on the neural response to the violation of musical syntax were investigated in the present study. Musical chord progressions were played to nonmusicians while Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) were recorded. The five-chord progressions included 61% harmonically expected cadences (I-I(6)-IV-V-I), 26% harmonically unexpected cadences (I-I(6)-IV-V-N(6)), and 13% with one of the five chords having an intensity fadeout across its duration. During the attended condition, subjects responded by pressing a button upon detecting a fadeout in volume; during the unattended condition, subjects were given reading comprehension materials and instructed to ignore all auditory stimuli. In response to the harmonic deviant, an Early Anterior Negativity (EAN) was observed at 150-300 ms in both attention conditions, but it was much larger in amplitude in the attended condition. A second scalp-negative deflection was also identified at 380-600 ms following the harmonic deviants; this Late Negativity onset earlier during the attended condition. These results suggest strong effects of attention on the neural processing of harmonic syntax.
LYMPHOCYTES expressing the CD8 surface antigen T are thought to include a subset of lymphocytes w... more LYMPHOCYTES expressing the CD8 surface antigen T are thought to include a subset of lymphocytes with antiviral functions.'.' Both antigen-specific CD8+ T lympho- cytes (cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTL)) as well as nonspecific or non-major histocompatibility complex (MHQ-restricted CD8+ T-effector cells3 may play an important role in host defense against viral infections! Recently, it has been found that T lymphocytes expressing
Previous research has examined the role of parenting in the development of depression and anxiety... more Previous research has examined the role of parenting in the development of depression and anxiety disorders using retrospective reports of parenting behaviors. However, most studies have not considered comorbidity; the few that have did not differentially examine individual anxiety disorders and yielded inconsistent results. The present study compared retrospective parenting reports given by depressed individuals with no comorbid anxiety disorder, comorbid panic disorder, and comorbid social anxiety disorder. Results indicated that depressed men with panic disorder reported significantly greater maternal and nonsignificantly greater paternal protectiveness than depressed men without panic disorder but not than depressed women with and without panic disorder. No differences were found for the retrospective parenting reports given by depressed participants with or without social anxiety disorder. This work highlights the importance of examining specific anxiety disorders rather than grouping all depressed patients with any anxiety disorder together, as well as examining males and females separately when investigating the influence of parental behavior.
The late positive potential (LPP) is an event-related potential component that indexes selective ... more The late positive potential (LPP) is an event-related potential component that indexes selective attention toward motivationally salient information and is sensitive to emotional stimuli. Few studies have examined the LPP in children. Depression has been associated with reduced reactivity to negative and positive emotional stimuli, including reduced LPPs in response to emotional faces. The current study sought to identify the time course and scalp distribution of the LPP in response to emotional faces in young children and to determine whether reduced reactivity is observed among children at risk for depression. Electrocortical reactivity to emotional faces was examined in a large sample of young children and as a function of maternal and paternal depression. In the overall sample, emotional faces were associated with increased positivities compared to neutral faces at occipital sites 200-600 ms after stimulus onset and at parietal sites 600-1,000 ms after stimulus onset. Children of mothers with a history of depressive disorders exhibited reduced differentiation in the early occipital LPP for emotional compared to neutral faces. Results suggest that children as young as 6 years exhibit LPPs to emotional faces, and patterns of electrocortical reactivity to emotional stimuli may be associated with vulnerability to depressive disorders.
There is increasing interest in error-related brain activity in anxiety disorders. The error-rela... more There is increasing interest in error-related brain activity in anxiety disorders. The error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative deflection in the event-related potential approximately 50 ms after errors compared to correct responses. Recent studies suggest that the ERN may be a biomarker for anxiety, as it is positively associated with anxiety disorders and traits in adults and older youth. However, it is not known if the ERN in young children is related to risk for anxiety disorders. We addressed this by examining the association of six-year olds' ERNs with two established risk factors for anxiety: parental anxiety disorder and child temperamental negative emotionality (NE). The ERN was assessed using a Go/No-Go task in a community sample of 413 six-year olds. In a prior assessment at age 3, child temperament was evaluated using a laboratory observational measure and parental psychopathology was assessed using semi-structured diagnostic interviews. Children of mothers with anxiety disorders and children with greater temperamental NE (particularly fearfulness) exhibited significantly smaller ERNs than their peers. Paternal psychopathology, maternal mood and substance use disorders, and child positive emotionality were not associated with children's ERNs. Both maternal anxiety disorders and child NE (particularly fearfulness) were significantly associated with children's ERNs. However, the direction of these associations was opposite to the relations between ERNs and anxiety in older youth and adults. These results suggest that there may be a difference between risk and disorder status in the relation of error-related brain activity to anxiety between early childhood and late childhood/ early adolescence.
Anxiety disorders are the most frequently diagnosed form of psychopathology in children and often... more Anxiety disorders are the most frequently diagnosed form of psychopathology in children and often result in chronic impairment that persists into adulthood. Identifying neurobehavioral correlates of anxiety that appear relatively early in life would inform etiological models of development and allow intervention and prevention strategies to be implemented more effectively. The error-related negativity (ERN), a negative deflection in the event-related potential at fronto-central sites approximately 50 ms following the commission of errors, has been consistently found to be larger among anxious adults. The current study sought to extend these findings to even younger individuals: the ERN was elicited by a Go/NoGo task in 48 six year-old children with a clinical anxiety disorder assessed by diagnostic interview and 48 age-matched controls. In addition to child anxiety disorder, the ERN was examined in relation to maternal history of anxiety disorder, which was previously related to a smaller ERN. Anxious children were characterized by a larger (i.e., more negative) ERN and maternal history of anxiety disorder was associated with a smaller ERN. Thus, the relationship between an increased ERN and clinical anxiety is evident by age 6, and this effect appears independent from an opposing influence of maternal anxiety history on the ERN. These findings support the ERN as a promising neurobehavioral marker of anxiety, and implications are discussed.
Attentional biases for negative stimuli have been observed in school-age and adolescent children ... more Attentional biases for negative stimuli have been observed in school-age and adolescent children of depressed mothers and may reflect a vulnerability to depression. The direction of these biases and whether they can be identified in early childhood remains unclear. The current study examined attentional biases in 5-7-year-old children of depressed and non-depressed mothers. Following a mood induction, children participated in a dot-probe task assessing biases for sad and happy faces. There was a significant interaction of group and sex: daughters of depressed mothers attended selectively to sad faces, while children of controls and sons of depressed mothers did not exhibit biases. No effects were found for happy stimuli. These findings suggest that attentional biases are discernible in early childhood and may be vulnerability markers for depression. The results also raise the possibility that sex differences in cognitive biases are evident before the emergence of sex differences in the prevalence of depression.
The current study examined behavioral measures and responselocked event-related brain potentials ... more The current study examined behavioral measures and responselocked event-related brain potentials (ERPs) derived from a Go/No-Go task in a large (N ¼ 328) sample of 5-to 7-year-olds in order to better understand the early development of response monitoring and the impact of child age and sex. In particular, the error-related negativity (ERN, defined on both error trials alone and the difference between error and correct trials, or DERN), correct response negativity (CRN), and error positivity (P e ) were examined. Overall, the ERN, CRN, and the P e were spatially and temporally similar to those measured in adults and older children. Even within our narrow age range, older children were faster and more accurate; a more negative DERN and a more positive P e were associated with: increasing age, increased accuracy, and faster reaction times on errors, suggesting these enhanced components reflected more efficient response monitoring of errors over development. Girls were slower and more accurate than boys, although both genders exhibited comparable ERPs. Younger children and girls were characterized by increased posterror slowing, although they did not demonstrate improved posterror accuracy. Posterror slowing was also related to a larger P e and reduced posterror accuracy. Collectively, these data suggest that posterror slowing may be unrelated to cognitive control and may, like the P e , reflect an orienting response to errors. ß 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 54: 139-150, 2012.
The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related brain potential observed in adults when er... more The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related brain potential observed in adults when errors are committed, and which appears to be sensitive to error value. Recent work suggests that the ERN can also be elicited in relatively young children using simple tasks and that ERN amplitude might be sensitive to error value. The current study employed a Go No-Go paradigm in which 5-7-year-old children (N = 18) earned low or high points for correct responses. Results indicated that errors were associated with an ERN; however, the size was not reliably moderated by error value.
Researchers have long been interested in whether particular temperamental traits in childhood con... more Researchers have long been interested in whether particular temperamental traits in childhood connote risk for depressive disorders. For example, children characterized as having high negative emotionality (NE; sadness, fear, anger) and low positive emotionality (PE; anhedonia, listlessness, and lack of enthusiasm) are hypothesized to be at risk for depression. Few studies, however, have examined whether (and how) these two temperamental dimensions interact to confer risk. In a sample of 329 preschoolers, the present study addressed this question by examining the relation between PE and NE and asymmetry in resting EEG activity in frontal and posterior regions, which are putative biomarkers for depression. Using a laboratory battery to define temperament, we found an interaction of PE and NE on posterior asymmetry. Specifically, when PE was high, NE was associated with greater relative right activity. When PE was low, NE was not related to posterior asymmetry. These results were driven by differences in EEG activity in right posterior regions, an area associated with emotional processing and arousal, and were specific to girls. We found no relation between temperament and frontal asymmetry. These findings suggest that, at least for girls, PE and NE may have an interactive effect on risk for depression.
Emotion knowledge in childhood has been shown to predict social functioning and psychological wel... more Emotion knowledge in childhood has been shown to predict social functioning and psychological well-being, but relatively little is known about parental factors that influence its development in early childhood. There is some evidence that both parenting behavior and maternal depression are associated with emotion recognition, but previous research has only examined these factors independently. The current study assessed auditory and visual emotion recognition ability among a large sample of preschool children to examine typical emotion recognition skills in children of this age, as well as the independent and interactive effects of maternal and paternal depression and negative parenting (i.e., hostility and intrusiveness). Results indicated that children were most accurate at identifying happy emotional expressions. The lowest accuracy was observed for neutral expressions. A significant interaction was found between maternal depression and negative parenting behavior: children with a maternal history of depression were particularly sensitive to the negative effects of maladaptive parenting behavior on emotion recognition ability. No significant effects were found for paternal depression. These results highlight the importance of examining the effects of multiple interacting factors on children's emotional development and provide suggestions for identifying children for targeted preventive interventions.
Objectives: Dysphagia is an important consequence of many diseases. As some of the muscles of deg... more Objectives: Dysphagia is an important consequence of many diseases. As some of the muscles of deglutition tend to be deep to the surface, needle electrodes are typically used, but this limits the number of muscles that can be simultaneously recorded. Since control of swallowing involves central pattern generators (CPGs) which distribute commands to several muscles, monitoring several muscles simultaneously is desirable. Here we describe a novel method, based on computing the independent components (ICs) of the simultaneous sEMG recordings (Muscle Nerve Suppl 9 (2000) 9) to detect the underlying functional muscle activations during swallowing using only surface EMG (sEMG) electrodes.
Fear conditioning has provided a useful model system for studying associative emotional learning,... more Fear conditioning has provided a useful model system for studying associative emotional learning, but the impact of healthy aging has gone relatively unexplored. The present study investigated fear conditioning across the adult life span in humans. A delay discrimination task was employed using visual conditioned stimuli and an auditory unconditioned stimulus. Awareness of the reinforcement contingencies was assessed in a postexperimental interview. Compared with young adult participants, middle-aged and older adults displayed reductions in unconditioned responding, discriminant conditioning, and contingency awareness. When awareness and overall arousability were taken into consideration, there were no residual effects of aging on conditioning. These results highlight the importance of considering the influence of declarative knowledge when interpreting age-associated changes in discriminative conditioned learning.
Perceptual priming for emotionally-negative and neutral scenes was tested in early-stage Alzheime... more Perceptual priming for emotionally-negative and neutral scenes was tested in early-stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and healthy younger, middle-aged and older adults. In the study phase, participants rated the scenes for their arousal properties. In the test phase, studied and novel scenes were initially presented subliminally, and the exposure duration was gradually increased until a valence categorization was made. The difference in exposure duration required to categorize novel versus studied items was the dependent measure of priming. Aversive content increased the magnitude of priming, an effect that was preserved in healthy aging and AD. Results from an immediate recognition memory test showed that the priming effects could not be attributable to enhanced explicit memory for the aversive scenes. These findings implicate a dissociation between the modulatory effect of emotion across implicit and explicit forms of memory in aging and early-stage AD.
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