The feedback‐related negativity (FRN) in adolescents

Abstract

This study examined age-related differences in the ERP correlates of external feedback processing (i.e., the feedback-related negativity [FRN]) in adolescent and young adult males, using a simple gambling task involving unpredictable monetary losses and gains of low and high magnitude. The FRN was larger after losses than gains, and was modulated by the magnitude of gains, but not the magnitude of losses, for all participants regardless of age. FRN amplitude was larger in adolescents than adults and also discriminated relatively less strongly between gains and losses in adolescents. In addition, the morphology of the waveform after high losses suggests that feedback in this condition may have been processed less efficiently by adolescents. Our results suggest that, although the FRN in adults and adolescents share some common characteristics, the neural processes that generate the FRN are still developing in midadolescence. These findings are discussed in the context of adolescent risk taking.

Feedback Processing in Adolescence: An Event-Related Potential Study of Age and Gender Differences

“…Participants were screened for any visual, neurological or psychological disorders prior to enrollment in the study. Data from 10 of the boys (selected to provide an age-matched sample with girls) were previously reported in a study with an all-male sample [28]. Data from 3 participants were discarded due to recording problems; analyses were conducted on data from the remaining 18 women (mean age = 27.1 years, SD = 3.9), 19 men (mean age = 29.5 years, SD = 3.4), 20 boys (mean age = 15.1 years, SD = 1.2) and 20 girls (mean age = 15.2 years, SD = 1.6).…”

“…However, neither of these two studies found age differences in the FRN in comparison to their adult group, nor did they find any sex-by-age interactions. It is possible that age-related differences were obscured because, in contrast to Hammerer et al [27] and Zottoli and Grose-Fifer [28], their adult samples included participants under the age of 21 years.…”

“…Based on previous developmental studies, we hypothesized that adolescents would have later and larger FRNs than adults [27,28,29,31] and, because changes in DA circuitry are greater for males than females, we posited that these immaturities would be more pronounced in adolescent boys than in girls. We have discussed our results in the context of putative changes in underlying neurochemical systems and the increased incidence of risk taking that is widely reported during adolescence.…”

“…However, only a small number of studies have used FRN recordings to investigate human DA circuitry in adolescents [25,26,27,28,29,30], and even fewer have examined gender differences in this population [26,29]. Two studies, one from our laboratory with an all-male sample who participated in a gambling game [28] and the other with a mixed gender sample using a probabilistic learning paradigm [27], have shown that adolescents have larger FRNs than adults. Also, the differentiation between FRN amplitude for losses and gains was relatively smaller for adolescents compared to adults [27,28], suggesting that the ability to modify future behavior based on DA signals may be less effective in teenagers compared to adults.…”

“…Two studies, one from our laboratory with an all-male sample who participated in a gambling game [28] and the other with a mixed gender sample using a probabilistic learning paradigm [27], have shown that adolescents have larger FRNs than adults. Also, the differentiation between FRN amplitude for losses and gains was relatively smaller for adolescents compared to adults [27,28], suggesting that the ability to modify future behavior based on DA signals may be less effective in teenagers compared to adults. As yet, there is little consistent evidence as to whether the FRN is substantially different in adolescent boys compared to girls.…”