Clayson Peter Eugene, Rocha Harold A, Baldwin Scott A, Rast Philippe, Larson Michael J
Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.
Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.
Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2022 Jun;7(6):555-565. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2021.10.016. Epub 2021 Nov 3.
Abnormal performance monitoring is a possible transdiagnostic marker of psychopathology. Research on neural indices of performance monitoring, including the error-related negativity (ERN), typically examines group and interindividual (between-person) differences in mean/average scores. Intraindividual (within-person) variability in activity captures the capacity to dynamically adjust from moment to moment, and excessive variability appears maladaptive. Intraindividual variability in ERN represents a unique and largely unexamined dimension that might impact functioning. We tested whether psychopathology group differences (major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder) or corresponding psychiatric symptoms account for intraindividual variability in single-trial ERN scores.
High-density electroencephalogram was recorded during a semantic flanker task in 51 participants with major depressive disorder, 44 participants with generalized anxiety disorder, 31 participants with obsessive-compulsive disorder, and 56 psychiatrically healthy participants. Time-window mean ERN amplitude was scored 0-125 ms following participant response across four frontocentral sites. Multilevel location-scale models were used to simultaneously examine interindividual and intraindividual differences in ERN.
Analyses indicated considerable intraindividual variability in ERN that was common across groups. However, we did not find strong evidence to support relationships between ERN and psychopathology groups or transdiagnostic symptoms.
These findings point to important methodological implications for studies of performance monitoring in healthy and clinical populations-the common assumption of fixed intraindividual variability (i.e., residual variance) may be inappropriate for ERN studies. Implementation of multilevel location-scale models in future research can leverage between-person differences in intraindividual variability in performance monitoring to gain a rich understanding of trial-to-trial performance monitoring dynamics.
异常的表现监测是精神病理学的一种可能的跨诊断标志物。对包括错误相关负波（ERN）在内的表现监测神经指标的研究，通常考察组间和个体间（人与人之间）平均得分的差异。活动中的个体内（个体内部）变异性反映了瞬间动态调整的能力，而过度变异性似乎是适应不良的。ERN的个体内变异性代表了一个独特且基本未被研究的维度，可能会影响功能。我们测试了精神病理学组间差异（重度抑郁症、广泛性焦虑症、强迫症）或相应的精神症状是否能解释单次试验ERN分数的个体内变异性。
在一项语义侧抑制任务中，对51名重度抑郁症患者、44名广泛性焦虑症患者、31名强迫症患者和56名精神健康参与者进行了高密度脑电图记录。在参与者做出反应后，在四个额中央部位对0-125毫秒时间窗口内的平均ERN振幅进行评分。使用多水平位置尺度模型同时考察ERN的个体间和个体内差异。
分析表明，ERN存在相当大的个体内变异性，且在各组中普遍存在。然而，我们没有找到有力证据支持ERN与精神病理学组或跨诊断症状之间的关系。
这些发现指出了健康人群和临床人群表现监测研究的重要方法学意义——固定个体内变异性（即残差方差）的常见假设可能不适用于ERN研究。在未来研究中实施多水平位置尺度模型，可以利用表现监测中个体内变异性的个体间差异，以深入了解逐次试验的表现监测动态。
