title: The N170 to angry faces predicts anxiety in typically developing children over a two-year period.
abstract: Enhanced threat processing has been associated with elevated anxiety in adults, but less is known about how threat processing influences the developmental trajectory of anxiety in children. We used the N170 to measure threat (angry faces) processing in relation to child anxiety over a 2-year period. Participants were 27 typically developing 5-to-7-year-olds (13 females). Higher anxiety when children were aged 5 to 7 was associated with higher anxiety 2 years later, but only for children showing larger N170 amplitudes to angry versus happy faces. The N170 captures individual differences in threat processing that may characterize children at enhanced risk for anxiety.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Laura J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: O'Toole
authors.forename: Jennifer M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: DeCicco
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berthod
authors.forename: Tracy A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Dennis
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time