Blunted Neural Error Monitoring Amplifies the Adverse Effect of Childhood Maltreatment on Depressive Symptoms: Time-Domain and Time-Frequency Analysis.

Abstract

Performance monitoring (PM) has been suggested as a promising cognitive factor to explain individual differences in the association between early maltreatment and depression, yet evidence remains limited. From a monitoring vs. executive perspective, this study thus comprehensively examined whether and how the neurophysiological (ERN and its time-frequency decomposition components) and behavioral (posterror accuracy) indicators of PM interacted with childhood maltreatment on young adult depressive symptoms. A total of 192 Chinese university students (Mage = 21.08 ± 1.91 years; 59.4% girls) completed self-report questionnaires and an Eriksen Flanker task while EEG activity was recorded. The results showed that blunted vs. heightened ERN and error-related delta were more likely to amplify the adverse effect of childhood maltreatment, especially emotional neglect, on young adult depressive symptoms. However, error-related theta and posterror accuracy did not show such interaction effects. The findings showed strong robustness across a series of sensitivity analyses. The results provide preliminary evidence that blunted error monitoring but not executive ability, reflected by ERN and error-related delta, may be a neurobiological moderator that underlies maltreatment-related depression, which deepens the cognitive control underpinnings of depression. However, given the high-functioning sample, caution is warranted when generalizing these findings in high-risk clinical samples.