Bruce Jacqueline, McDermott Jennifer Martin, Fisher Philip A, Fox Nathan A
Oregon Social Learning Center and Center for Research to Practice, 10 Shelton McMurphey Boulevard, Eugene, OR 97401-2426, USA.
Prev Sci. 2009 Jun;10(2):129-40. doi: 10.1007/s11121-008-0115-8.
The current study was designed to explore the use of behavioral (i.e., accuracy and reaction times) and electrophysiological measures (i.e., event-related potentials) to assess the impact of a family-based preventive intervention for preschool-aged, maltreated children in foster care. These measures were recorded during a computerized flanker task designed to assess cognitive control and response monitoring. The sample was recruited from a larger randomized efficacy trial of Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care for Preschoolers (MTFC-P) and included foster children assigned to the intervention condition (n = 10), foster children assigned to a services-as-usual comparison condition (n = 13), and low-income, nonmaltreated community children (n = 11). The children's behavioral and electrophysiological performance on the task was generally consistent with previous research with adults and older children. There were no group differences on the behavioral measures of cognitive control or response monitoring. Notably, however, group differences were observed on the electrophysiological measures of response monitoring. Specifically, the foster children who received services as usual were significantly less responsive to performance feedback about errors than the foster children who received the intervention and the nonmaltreated children. Applications of this methodology and implications of the results for future prevention research are discussed.
本研究旨在探索运用行为学指标（即准确性和反应时间）和电生理学指标（即事件相关电位），来评估一项针对寄养环境中受虐待的学龄前儿童的家庭预防性干预措施的效果。这些指标是在一项旨在评估认知控制和反应监测的计算机化侧翼任务中记录的。样本取自一项规模更大的学龄前儿童多维治疗寄养（MTFC-P）随机疗效试验，包括被分配到干预组的寄养儿童（n = 10）、被分配到常规服务对照组的寄养儿童（n = 13），以及低收入、未受虐待的社区儿童（n = 11）。儿童在该任务中的行为和电生理学表现总体上与先前针对成人和大龄儿童的研究一致。在认知控制或反应监测的行为指标上没有组间差异。然而，值得注意的是，在反应监测的电生理学指标上观察到了组间差异。具体而言，接受常规服务的寄养儿童对错误表现反馈的反应明显低于接受干预的寄养儿童和未受虐待的儿童。本文讨论了该方法的应用以及研究结果对未来预防研究的启示。
