Self-referential information is uniquely salient and preferentially processed even in children. The literature has used the Self-Referent Encoding Task (SRET) combined with ERPs to study the neural substrates of self-referential processing and its role in development. However, no work has implemented a data-driven, comprehensive examination of the ERP correlates of SRET in youths by comparing a self-referential condition with an other-referential condition. Ninety-two 10-to-14-year-old typically developing youths completed an ERP version of the SRET consisting of a self-referential and an other-referential condition, following which they were unexpectedly asked to complete a recognition task of the presented words. A data-driven Principal Components Analysis isolated five SRET-elicited ERPs: P1, P2, N400, and anterior and posterior late positive potential (aLPP, pLPP). Two-way ANOVAs (Referent × Valence) demonstrated a “self-positivity” bias in aLPP, recognition, and memory sensitivity: youths showed an enhanced aLPP, better recognition, and higher memory sensitivity for Self-Positive versus Self-Negative words, whereas no such differences were found between Other-Positive and Other-negative words. Further, a (marginal) “other-negativity” bias was found in pLPP, P2, and recognition: youths displayed an enhanced pLPP and P2 and higher memory sensitivity in the Other-Negative versus Other-Positive condition, whereas no such pattern was observed in the Self conditions. We provided novel evidence on a self-positivity bias that uniquely favored positive self-referential words as well as an other-negativity bias that uniquely favored negative other-referential words. These findings contribute to our mechanistic knowledge of self-referential processing in youths and inform future studies on the role of self-referential processing in socioemotional development.

The ability to detect and monitor errors enables us to maintain optimal performance across tasks. One neurophysiological index of error monitoring is the error-related negativity (ERN), a fronto-central negative deflection peaking between 0-150 ms following an erroneous response. The developmental literature has illustrated age-related differences in the ERN and its association with anxiety during development. However, this literature focuses on the between-person differences of the ERN and cannot speak to whether there exist meaningful within-person changes in the ERN throughout a task. We examined the within-person variations of the ERN in 115 community-dwelling nine-to-12-year-olds (66 girls; Mean age/SD=11.00/1.16 years), a critical period for the development of error processing and anxiety psychopathology. Participants completed an EEG Go/No-Go task and reported their anxiety symptoms. Multilevel growth analyses yielded significant within-person, curvilinear changes in the ERN throughout the task. Youths’ trial-level ERN increased (i.e., became more negative) as more errors were made earlier in the task, but decreased as subsequent errors were committed later in the task. This curvilinear pattern was evident in older, but not younger, youths. Age further interacted with anxiety symptoms: younger youths with higher anxiety showed a continuous increase in the ERN throughout the task, whereas older youths with higher anxiety showed an increase in the ERN with early errors, followed by a decline in the ERN in later error trials. Our study contributed novel evidence for the development of the ERN and the underlying mechanisms of the ERN-anxiety relationship that cannot be captured by between-person approaches.

Preadolescence is a critical period for the onset of puberty and eating-related psycho-pathology. More advanced pubertal status is associated with elevated eating pathology. However, it was unclear whether this association was moderated by self-referential processing, an important, modifiable cognitive risk for various forms of psychopathology, including eating problems. Fur-ther, no study has examined the neural correlates of self-referential processing in relation to eating pathology. To address these gaps, we examined how the association between pubertal status and disordered eating was moderated by self-referential processing in a community sample of 115 nine-to-12-year-old preadolescents (66 girls; Mean age/SD =10.98/1.18 years; 87.5% White). Youths reported their pubertal status and disordered eating behaviors and completed an ERP ver-sion of the Self-Referent Encoding Task (SRET) to assess self-referential processing. A Principal Component Analysis of the ERP data identified an anterior late positive potential (LPP) in both the positive and negative SRET conditions. The LPP in the positive condition moderated the positive association between pubertal status and disordered eating behaviors, such that this association was significant for youths with a smaller LPP toward positive self-referential cues, but non-significant for those showing a larger LPP toward positive self-referential cues. These results suggest that a deeper processing of positive self-referential information, indicated by a potentiated LPP, may weaken the negative impact of pubertal status on disordered eating. Our findings also suggest that enhancing positive self-referential processing may be a useful tool in preventing the development of eating pathology in preadolescents, especially for those with more advanced pubertal status.