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dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11401/77180
dc.description.sponsorshipThis work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.en_US
dc.formatMonograph
dc.format.mediumElectronic Resourceen_US
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherThe Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
dc.typeDissertation
dcterms.abstractAnxiety disorders are the most frequent form of psychopathology in children and adolescents and often result in chronic impairment. Therefore, there is a critical need to identify markers that characterize normative versus anxious trajectories of development. One promising biomarker of anxiety is altered brain activity in response to errors, as reflected by the event-related potential (ERP), the error-related negativity (ERN). The ERN occurs around the time of error commission and is generated in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). An increased ERN has been consistently found in adults with anxiety disorders. Although the ERN is smaller in children and changes across development, some work has suggested that the ERN is increased in anxious children and that this relationship may differ as a function of developmental stage. The current study uses multiple neural measures to model error sensitivity and anxiety in a large sample of females spanning childhood and adolescence (8 – 14 years old). Using the ERN elicited during a flankers and Go/NoGo task, as well as error-related brain activity using fMRI, we modeled error sensitivity as a latent trait. The results from the current study suggest that anxiety symptoms increased during adolescence – and that these increases were better accounted for by puberty than age. Additionally, increased pubertal development was associated with increases in worry, social anxiety, and panic, but not separation anxiety. The ERN elicited by the flankers task was associated with increases in child anxiety - specifically related to increases in social anxiety symptoms. While error-related brain activity elicited by the Go/NoGo task related to increases in child anxiety, these associations were not as consistent as those observed using the flankers task. Consistent with previous work, we observed error-related ACC activity, which correlated with the Go/NoGo ERN. Error-related neural activity as measured during both the ERP tasks and in the scanner increased across development in a quadratic fashion, with a dip occurring around age 11. A model wherein error sensitivity, child anxiety, and development were modeled as latent traits showed excellent fit – suggesting that increased child anxiety related to increased error sensitivity, even when accounting for the impact of development.
dcterms.abstractAnxiety disorders are the most frequent form of psychopathology in children and adolescents and often result in chronic impairment. Therefore, there is a critical need to identify markers that characterize normative versus anxious trajectories of development. One promising biomarker of anxiety is altered brain activity in response to errors, as reflected by the event-related potential (ERP), the error-related negativity (ERN). The ERN occurs around the time of error commission and is generated in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). An increased ERN has been consistently found in adults with anxiety disorders. Although the ERN is smaller in children and changes across development, some work has suggested that the ERN is increased in anxious children and that this relationship may differ as a function of developmental stage. The current study uses multiple neural measures to model error sensitivity and anxiety in a large sample of females spanning childhood and adolescence (8 – 14 years old). Using the ERN elicited during a flankers and Go/NoGo task, as well as error-related brain activity using fMRI, we modeled error sensitivity as a latent trait. The results from the current study suggest that anxiety symptoms increased during adolescence – and that these increases were better accounted for by puberty than age. Additionally, increased pubertal development was associated with increases in worry, social anxiety, and panic, but not separation anxiety. The ERN elicited by the flankers task was associated with increases in child anxiety - specifically related to increases in social anxiety symptoms. While error-related brain activity elicited by the Go/NoGo task related to increases in child anxiety, these associations were not as consistent as those observed using the flankers task. Consistent with previous work, we observed error-related ACC activity, which correlated with the Go/NoGo ERN. Error-related neural activity as measured during both the ERP tasks and in the scanner increased across development in a quadratic fashion, with a dip occurring around age 11. A model wherein error sensitivity, child anxiety, and development were modeled as latent traits showed excellent fit – suggesting that increased child anxiety related to increased error sensitivity, even when accounting for the impact of development.
dcterms.available2017-09-20T16:52:09Z
dcterms.contributorKlein, Danielen_US
dcterms.contributorHajcak, Gregen_US
dcterms.contributorLuhmann, Christianen_US
dcterms.contributorEndrass, Tanja.en_US
dcterms.creatorMeyer, Alexandria
dcterms.dateAccepted2017-09-20T16:52:09Z
dcterms.dateSubmitted2017-09-20T16:52:09Z
dcterms.descriptionDepartment of Clinical Psychologyen_US
dcterms.extent95 pg.en_US
dcterms.formatApplication/PDFen_US
dcterms.formatMonograph
dcterms.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/11401/77180
dcterms.issued2015-12-01
dcterms.languageen_US
dcterms.provenanceMade available in DSpace on 2017-09-20T16:52:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Meyer_grad.sunysb_0771E_12404.pdf: 1607508 bytes, checksum: ce54fe8cb6236ce9f7bddab0772cf765 (MD5) Previous issue date: 1en
dcterms.publisherThe Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
dcterms.subjectClinical psychology
dcterms.titleA multi-method assessment of error sensitivity and anxiety in childhood and adolescence
dcterms.typeDissertation


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