Neurocognitive predictors of treatment completion and daytime activities at follow-up in multiproblem young adults.

Previous research has shown an association between cognitive control deficits and problematic behavior such as antisocial behavior and substance use, but little is known about the predictive value of cognitive control for treatment outcome. The current study tests whether selected markers of baseline cognitive control predict (1) treatment completion of a day treatment program involving a combination of approaches for multiproblem young adults and (2) daytime activities a year after the start of treatment, over and above psychological, social, and criminal characteristics. We assessed individual, neurobiological, and neurobehavioral measures, including functional brain activity during an inhibition task and two electroencephalographic measures of error processing in 127 male multiproblem young adults (age 18-27 years). We performed two hierarchical regression models to test the predictive power of cognitive control for treatment completion and daytime activities at follow-up. The overall models did not significantly predict treatment completion or daytime activities at follow-up. However, activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) during response inhibition, years of regular alcohol use, internalizing problems, and ethnicity were all significant individual predictors of daytime activity at follow-up. In conclusion, cognitive control could not predict treatment completion or daytime activities a year after the start of treatment over and above individual characteristics. However, results indicate a direct association between brain activity during response inhibition and participation in daytime activities, such as work or school, after treatment. As adequate baseline inhibitory control is associated with a positive outcome at follow-up, this suggests interventions targeting cognitive control might result in better outcomes at follow-up.

Error-related brain activity in relation to psychopathic traits in multi-problem young adults: An ERP study.

One of the most prominent issues in psychopathy is the inability to adequately monitor one's performance and learn from one's mistakes. We investigated the relationship between psychopathic traits, as measured with the Youth Psychopathy Inventory - Short Version, and both early and late error-related brain activity in an at-risk sample of male young adults. These multi-problem young adults (age 18-27) are severely dysfunctional in society and suffer from multiple problems including financial problems, delinquency, psychological problems, and drug use. Our final sample consisted of 115 multi-problem young adults and 26 controls. Participants performed an Eriksen-Flanker task during EEG measurements. We used the difference wave of the error-related negativity (ΔERN) as a measure of early error processing and the error positivity (Pe) as a measure of late error processing. Multi-problem young adults showed reduced ERN amplitudes compared to controls, but did not differ in Pe amplitude. We found no statistically significant relation between psychopathic traits and ERN and Pe amplitudes within the multi-problem group. Thus, we found evidence for dysfunctional error-processing in multi-problem young adults compared to controls. However, within the multi-problem sample we did not find evidence for a relationship between psychopathic traits and dysfunctional error-processing. One explanation may be that this is due to the specific developmental stage of our young adult participants in which a transition between error-processing deficits, as present in adolescents high in psychopathic traits, and error-processing overcompensation, as present in adults high in psychopathic traits, may occur.