Error-Related Negativity in a Visual Go/No-Go Task: Children vs. Adults

Abstract

Thirteen young adults (ages 21-25) and nine children (ages 7-11) were tested on a visual go/no-go task comparing response times (RTs), error rates, and amplitude and latency changes of error-related negativity (ERN). All experimental conditions were identical for both age groups. Results are consistent with the previous flanker task research showing an increase in ERN amplitude as children age. However, the present results indicate that the peak amplitude of ERN for 9-11 year old children is larger than that of 7-8 year old children, with no difference overall between young adults and children. ERN responses elicited by the flanker task continue to develop until late adolescence. Comparative results suggest that the visual go/no-go task may be more sensitive cognitive measure than the flanker task of mistakes made by children. Differences in time pressure to respond, complexity of the task, and feedback are discussed as possible explanations of differences in the two paradigms.

Sex moderates the relationship between worry and performance monitoring brain activity in undergraduates

“…Finally, the discrepancy between this report and Larson's findings may reflect age-related differences in relative ERN amplitudes. Both women and men in the current study were considerably younger than those included in the study by Larson and colleagues. Several studies have noted developmental changes in ERN amplitude (Davies et al, 2004;Kim et al, 2007;Wiersema et al, 2007;Ladouceur et al, 2004). Thus, this may represent sexual dimorphism in the development of performance-monitoring processes.…”

Combining Neural and Behavioral Indicators in the Assessment of Internalizing Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents

“…Brain event-related potential (ERP) studies have identified the ERN as a robust marker of anterior cingulate cortex-mediated cognitive control processes invoked by performance errors (Holroyd & Coles, 2002;Yeung, Botvinick, & Cohen, 2004). The ERN is clearly evident in adolescents as well as adults (Davies, Segalowitz, & Gavin, 2004) and, more recently, has been observed in young children (i.e., ages 5-11; Kim, Iwaki, Imashioya, Uno, & Fujita, 2007;Torpey, Hajcak, Kim, Kujawa, & Klein, 2012;Wiersema, van der Meere, & Roeyers, 2007). The ERN thus represents a neurophysiological marker of cognitive control across development.…”

Age-related changes in error processing in young children: A school-based investigation

“…These initial studies indicated that clear ERNs were not present in children under 12 years of age, suggesting that mid-to-late adolescence was an important period for the development of this neural response (Davies et al, 2004; Ladouceur et al, 2007; Ladouceur et al, 2004). Subsequent reports indicated that ERN was observable in groups of children ranging in age from 7 −11 (Kim et al, 2007; Wiersema et al, 2007), with non-significant increases in ERN amplitude observed with increasing age. More recent investigations, involving increasingly developmentally sensitive measures, have demonstrated that the ERN can be identified in groups of children as young as 5 and 6 years old (Torpey et al, 2008; Torpey, et al, 2012).…”