Externalizing Psychopathology and Gain/Loss Feedback in a Simulated Gambling Task: Dissociable Components of Brain Response Revealed by Time-Frequency Analysis

摘要

Externalizing is a broad construct that reflects propensity toward a variety of impulse control problems, including antisocial personality disorder and substance use disorders. Two event-related potential responses known to be reduced among individuals high in externalizing proneness are the P300, which reflects post-perceptual processing of a stimulus, and the error-related negativity (ERN), which indexes performance monitoring based on endogenous representations. The current study employed a simulated gambling task to examine the relationship between externalizing proneness and the feedback-related negativity (FRN), a brain response that indexes performance monitoring related to exogenous cues, which is thought to be highly related to the ERN. Time-frequency (TF) analysis was used to disentangle the FRN from the accompanying P300 response to feedback cues by parsing the overall feedback-locked potential into distinctive theta (4–7 Hz) and delta (< 3 Hz) TF components. Whereas delta-P300 amplitude was reduced among individuals high in externalizing proneness, theta-FRN response was unrelated to externalizing. These findings suggest that, in contrast with previously reported deficits in endogenously-based performance monitoring (as indexed by the ERN), individuals high in externalizing tendencies show intact monitoring of exogenous cues (as indexed by the FRN). The results also contribute to a growing body of evidence indicating that the P300 is attenuated across a broad range of task conditions in high-externalizing individuals.