Valadez, Emilio A.2023-08-212023-08-212019https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/33158Cognitive control involves the utilization of both internal and external cues to help monitor one’s own behavior in order to achieve a particular goal or outcome. The feedback-related negativity (FRN) is a negative-gong event-related potential that is sensitive to processing of rewards versus nonrewards. The electrophysiological study of brain activity related to the processing of reward and punishment has become the subject of some controversy during the last decade. Whereas it has been argued that the FRN is simply an artifact of the absence of a reward-related positivity (RewP), others have shown that a negative-going component that is specific to nonrewards (i.e., the nonreward negativity) also contributes to the FRN. However, although the RewP has been shown to have adequate psychometric properties and is associated with depression, little is known about the nonreward negativity. Additionally, the nature of feedback processing deficits related to obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms remains poorly understood. The overarching goals of the present studies were 1) to explore the psychometric properties of the FRN’s constituent components, a critical step given that in order for an indicator to be considered a disease biomarker it must have good validity and reliability, and 2) to leverage that greater understanding to clarify the nature of cognitive control deficits associated with OC symptoms. Study 1 revealed that both the RewP and nonreward negativity had good internal consistency and good test-retest reliability across a 1-month period. In Study 2, although the nonreward negativity did not emerge, results indicated that the RewP may be related not only to depression symptoms but also to OC symptoms. Results also indicated that the number of possible reward/nonreward outcomes did not influence the emergence of FRN-related components. Lastly, Study 3 revealed that whereas the FRN in a mock-gambling context is largely dominated by the RewP, the FRN in a reinforcement learning context is largely dominated by the nonreward negativity, which was associated with reward responsiveness. Overall, results supported the notion that abnormal processing of negative feedback is associated with internalizing symptoms, broadly, rather than with specific facets of internalization (e.g., depression, OC symptoms).CompulsivityEEGOCDPunishmentRewardThesis1438932074https://doi.org/10.58088/gx55-8e682020-02-03en