VC: Psychopathology

Question 1

What aspects of performance monitoring are examples of evaluative control?

Answer 1

Interference effects on reaction time and error rate.

Question 2

What aspects of performance monitoring are examples of executive control?

Answer 2

Post-error slowing and sequential adjustments after conflict on correct trials.

Question 3

Give 5 signs of impaired performance monitoring in behaviour.

Answer 3

Reduced post error adjustment, reduced post conflict adjustment, impairment implementing alternative actions, spontaneous switches to less appropriate actions and lower performance in complex tasks.

Question 4

On a Simon task, how did people with rostral ACC lesions perform?

Answer 4

The showed no sequential adjustment and no post error slowing.

Question 5

On a Stroop task, how did people with OCD perform?

Answer 5

They showed stronger and prolonged ERN, the amplitude of which correlated with OCD severity.

Question 6

Describe the excessive affective response aspect of OCD.

Answer 6

Increased ERN may reflect a worry which caused increased affective valuation of errors and drives fear that errors will lead to negative outcomes.

Question 7

Describe the insufficient cognitive control during performance monitoring aspect of OCD.

Answer 7

Increased ERN reflects a compensatory response to deficiencies, which leads to anxiety.

Question 8

On a Stroop task, how did people with trait anxiety perform?

Answer 8

They showed no significant difference in post worries slowing to state anxious and non-anxious people and a larger ERN (supporting the view of hyperactive ACC).

Question 9

What does the lack of significant results in the spider fear/Flanker task suggest?

Answer 9

That the experience of affective distress itself may not explain an enhanced ERN in anxious subjects.

Question 10

Give 5 examples of depressed behaviour.

Answer 10

Magnifying significant of failure, bias toward negative self-descriptions, difficulty recovering after errors, extreme sensitivity to mistakes and negative feedback and reduced response to positive reinforcers.

Question 11

How do depressed people differ from the norm on a self-evaluation task?

Answer 11

They do not show self-positivity bias and evenly distribute positive and negative words between “like me” and “not like me” categories.

Question 12

Where do depressed people show increased activity and connectivity that may cause heightened ACC response?

Answer 12

Paralimbic emotion-related neural structures.

Question 13

How do depressed people perform on a Flanker task with feedback?

Answer 13

They show increased ERN and so exaggerated early error-detection processes.

Question 14

Give 2 unusual treatments for major depressive disorder involving the ACC.

Answer 14

Anterior cingulotomy (ACING) and deep brain stimulation of the subgenual ACC.

Question 15

What might have the failure to learn from experience that causes externalising behaviours?

Answer 15

A deficit in the ability to self-monitor behaviour for errors and inappropriate actions.

Question 16

On a letter Flanker task, how did highly externalising people perform?

Answer 16

They showed reduced ERN, suggestion an impatient in error-detection that impedes learning from errors.

Question 17

Give 3 key aspects of psychopathology.

Answer 17

Affective abnormalities, abnormal ACC functioning (particular with affective material) and a general arousal-based deficit (in limbic system and ACC).

Question 18

On a Flanker task, how did psychopathic people perform?

Answer 18

They made more errors and showed no ERN in the emotional face task, compared to no differences with controls in a letter task, and ACC activity negatively correlated with PCL-R score.

Question 19

In a letter Flanker task, how did cocaine-addicts perform?

Answer 19

They were slower, had a higher error rate, particularly after error commission, and smaller ERN.

Question 20

What might explain why cocaine-addicted perform differently than controls on a Flanker task?

Answer 20

They may have deficits in adjustment and low sensitivity to errors, as addicts are often insensitive to future negative consequences.

Question 21

In a Flanker task, how did alcohol affect participants?

Answer 21

Alcohol intake reduced ERN (did not matter if high or low dose) and post error adjustment.

Question 22

What are 2 potential reasons for alcohol’s effect on Flanker task performance?

Answer 22

A general reduction in performance monitoring or lapses in ACC function.

Question 23

In a Stroop task investigating intentions and actions, how did schizophrenic people perform?

Answer 23

They showed reduced post error slowing and no difference in ERN for errors and correct trials, suggesting deficits in both detection and correction of errors.

Question 24

In a Stroop task investigating conflict theory, how did schizophrenic people perform?

Answer 24

They showed virtually no post error slowing, very little post conflict adjustment and reduced conflict and error related activity in the ACC, suggesting inspired conflict monitoring could be behind difficulty with errors.

Question 25

In a picture-name verification task, how did old people and AD patients perform?

Answer 25

Old people were slower, made more errors and showed reduced ERN, but AD patients were significantly worse, showing almost no ERN, with no difference between correct and error trials.

Question 26

What is seen to cause the decline in old people’s frontal lobe control functioning?

Answer 26

Decline in dopaminergic receptors.

Question 27

On a letter Flanker task, how did middle-aged people perform compared to young people?

Answer 27

They were slower, showed no difference in error rates or adjustments and showed reduced ERN.

Question 28

Give 4 considerations for patient studies on performance monitoring.

Answer 28

Neurophysiological data should always be collected with behavioural data, analysis of error trials required sufficient numbers, performance should be kept similar across groups and medication effects should be considered.