Cognitive and emotional influences on event-related brain potentials

Research using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) has identified an ERP component, the error-related negativity (ERN), which is thought to represent error processing in the brain. Individuals with high negative affect as well as individuals suffering from depression and various anxiety disorders (e.g., OCD and GAD) showed larger ERN amplitudes (Luu et al., 2000; Tucker et al., 2003; Gehring et al., 2000; Hajcak et al., 2002). The primary goal of this study was to enhance our understanding of how this neural mechanism may be associated to cognitive styles such as perfectionism, a risk factor for the development of depression and anxiety (Alloy et al., 1999; Beck, 1976). ERPs for 31 students who have never suffered from a psychological disorder, but who scored high or low on a measure of perfectionism, were calculated by computing response-locked averages of EEGs measured across trials in which subjects made errors during a cognitive reaction-time task (the Flanker task). The results showed that higher levels of perfectionism predicted larger ERNs. The results suggest that the ERN could be viewed as a neural marker for the etiology of depression and anxiety.