Neurophysiology of predictable unpleasant event processing in pre‐adolescents and early adolescents, part II: Reflex and event‐related potential markers of defensive reactivity and peripheral attention modulation

Abstract

The ability to anticipate and process predictable unpleasant events, while also regulating emotional reactivity, is an adaptive skill. The current article and a companion in this issue test for potential changes in predictable event processing across the childhood-to-adolescence transition, a key developmental period for biological systems that support cognitive/ emotional abilities. While the companion article focuses on neurophysiology of predictable event processing itself, the present article examines peripheral emotional response regulation and attention modulation that coincides with event processing. A total of 315 third-, sixth-, or ninth-grade individuals saw 5-s cues predicting "scary," "every day," or uncertain pictures, and here, blink reflexes and brain event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by peripheral noise probes are analyzed. During the cue, blink reflexes and probe ERP (P200) amplitudes were increased when the cue predicted scary, compared to everyday, content. After picture onset, reflex enhancement by scary content then disappeared for predictable images, whereas ERP modulation was similar regardless of predictability. Patterns are similar to those in adults and suggest (1) sustained defensive response priming and enhancement of peripheral attention during aversive anticipation, and (2) an ability, even in pre-adolescents, to downregulate defensive priming while maintaining attentional modulation once an awaited predictable aversive event occurs.