Detailed contribution information
| Contribution title | 2367 - Children’s frontal EEG asymmetry and error-related components: a meta-analysis reporting biomarkers of internalizing and externalizing behaviors |
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| Contribution code | PS02-62 (P) |
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| Form of presentation | Poster |
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| Abstract |
Frontal hemispheric asymmetry and error-related components as measured by electroencephalography (EEG) are often considered to be biological correlates or “indicators” of psychopathology. This research aims to apply a meta-analysis in order to define specific patterns of frontal hemispheric asymmetry at rest and these patterns’ association with child psychopathology including internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors that may be risk-indicators of these phenomena. EEG asymmetry corresponds to the difference in cortical power in one hemisphere relative to the other and authors usually consider the hemispheric asymmetry in the frontal lobe and in the alpha band. Asymmetrical frontal activity is often interpreted according to the approach/withdrawal model of Davidson (Davidson, 1992) and it has been suggested that there is a significant association between greater right frontal activity (i.e. less alpha power on electrodes over the right than left hemisphere) and internalizing behaviors on one hand, and a relation between greater left frontal activity (i.e. less alpha power on electrodes over the left hemisphere) and externalizing behaviors (Gatzke-Kopp et al., 2014). We additionally conducted an analysis to test whether amplitude modulation of the error-related negativity (ERN; which is the index of executive functions that are related to action-monitoring or self-regulation) is also related to child internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors. Changes in physiological activation can also be related to disturbances in attentional and emotional processing, as measured in ERPs. We conducted three distinct meta-analyses that included a total of 31 studies (N=2186). Results showed a significant relationship between greater right frontal asymmetry and internalizing symptoms (N=1346, k=19, g=.519, C.I. 0.116-0.923, p<.001). We also found a significant association between greater left frontal asymmetry and externalizing behaviors (N=98, k=2, g=1.262, C.I. –3.113-5.638, p <.001). We found a significant relationship between higher ERN amplitudes and the level of internalizing symptoms (N=674, k=9, g=0.261, C.I. 0.075-0.448, p <.001). Our results show that frontal asymmetry in resting states is a likely biological indicator of risk for childhood psychopathology, specifically of the development of internalizing symptoms and/or externalizing behaviors. Results additionally supported that ERN amplitude was significantly related to internalizing symptoms. |