Neural Correlates Research Articles

Conceptualizing disparities and differences in the psychobiology of traumatic stress.

Understanding biological pathways that mediate trauma-related psychopathology is a major goal for traumatic stress studies. There is growing interest in studying differences in neural, physiological, and behavioral correlates of traumatic stress across demographic groups (e.g., sex/gender, race/ethnicity). However, challenges remain in how to appropriately conceptualize the source, mechanisms, and practical utility of between-group variation. The present brief conceptual review discusses ethnicity, race, and sex/gender-related variability relevant to understanding the psychobiology of traumatic stress in the context of traumatic stress studies. We discuss recent evidence related to socioenvironmental influences on ethnoracial variability in the brain and behavior relevant to traumatic stress, as well as sex/gender associations in neurophysiology that may contribute to the development of adverse posttraumatic sequelae. We further synthesize these findings by discussing intersectional influences of sex/gender- and race/ethnicity-related factors on trauma-related physical and mental health outcomes. The present review provides an important foundation for future research on disparities and individual differences in traumatic stress to move the field toward more effective assessment and treatment approaches.

The neural structures of theory of mind are valence-sensitive: evidence from three tDCS studies.

Several cortical structures are involved in theory of mind (ToM), including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and the right temporo- parietal junction (rTPJ). We investigated the role of these regions in mind reading with respect to the valence of mental states. Sixty-five healthy adult participants were recruited and received transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) (1.5mA, 20min) with one week interval in three separate studies. The stimulation conditions were anodal tDCS over the dlPFC coupled with cathodal tDCS over the vmPFC, reversed stimulation conditions, and sham in the first study, and anodal tDCS over the vmPFC, or dlPFC, and sham stimulation, with an extracranial return electrode in the second and third study. During stimulation, participants underwent the reading mind from eyes/voice tests (RMET or RMVT) in each stimulation condition. Anodal left dlPFC/cathodal right vmPFC stimulation increased the accuracy of negative mental state attributions, anodal rTPJ decreased the accuracy of negative and neutral mental state attributions, and decreased the reaction time of positive mental state attributions. Our results imply that the neural correlates of ToM are valence-sensitive.

Neural correlates of motor learning: Network communication versus local oscillations

Abstract Learning new motor skills through training, also termed motor learning, is central for everyday life. Current training strategies recommend intensive task-repetitions aimed at inducing local activation of motor areas, associated with changes in oscillation amplitudes (“event-related power”) during training. More recently, another neural mechanism was suggested to influence motor learning: modulation of functional connectivity (FC), that is, how much spatially separated brain regions communicate with each other before and during training. The goal of the present study was to compare the impact of these two neural processing types on motor learning. We measured EEG before, during, and after a finger-tapping task (FTT) in 20 healthy subjects. The results showed that training gain, long-term expertise (i.e., average motor performance), and consolidation were all predicted by whole-brain alpha- and beta-band FC at motor areas, striatum, and mediotemporal lobe (MTL). Local power changes during training did not predict any dependent variable. Thus, network dynamics seem more crucial than local activity for motor sequence learning, and training techniques should attempt to facilitate network interactions rather than local cortical activation.

Unveiling altered connectivity between cognitive networks and cerebellum in schizophrenia

Cognitive functioning is a crucial aspect in schizophrenia (SZ), and when altered it has devastating effects on patients' quality of life and treatment outcomes. Several studies suggested that they could result from altered communication between the cortex and cerebellum. However, the neural correlates underlying these impairments have not been identified. In this study, we investigated resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) in SZ patients, by considering the interactions between cortical networks supporting cognition and cerebellum. In addition, we investigated the relationship between SZ patients' rsFC and their symptoms.We used fMRI data from 74 SZ patients and 74 matched healthy controls (HC) downloaded from the publicly available database SchizConnect. We implemented a seed-based connectivity approach to identify altered functional connections between specific cortical networks and cerebellum. We considered ten commonly studied resting state networks, whose functioning encompasses specific cognitive functions, and the cerebellum, whose involvement in supporting cognition has been recently identified. We then explored the relationship between altered rsFC values and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scores.The SZ group showed increased connectivity values compared with HC group for cortical networks involved in attentive processes, which were also linked to PANSS items describing attention and language-related processing. We also showed decreased connectivity between cerebellar regions, and increased connectivity between them and attentive networks, suggesting the contribution of cerebellum to attentive and affective deficits.In conclusion, our findings highlighted the link between negative symptoms in SZ and altered connectivity within the cerebellum and between the same and cortical networks supporting cognition.

The neural representation of stereotype content

Judgments about social groups are characterized by their position in a representational space defined by two axes, warmth and competence. We examined serial dependence (SD) in evaluations of warmth and competence while measuring participants’ electroencephalographic (EEG) activity, as a means to address the independence between these two psychological axes. SD is the attraction of perceptual reports towards things seen in the recent past and has recently been intensely investigated in vision. SD occurs at multiple levels of visual processing, from basic features to meaningful objects. The current study aims to (1) measure whether SD occurs between non-visual objects, in particular social groups and (2) uncover the neural correlates of social group evaluation and SD using EEG. Participants’ judgments about social groups such as “nurses” or “accountants” were serially dependent, but only when the two successive groups were close in representational space. The pattern of results argues in favor of a non-separability between the two axes, because groups nearby on one dimension but far on the other were not subject to SD, even though that other dimension was irrelevant to the task at hand. Using representational similarity analysis, we found a brain signature that differentiated social groups as a function of their position in the representational space. Our results thus argue that SD may be a ubiquitous cognitive phenomenon, that social evaluations are serially dependent, and that reproducible neural signatures of social evaluations can be uncovered.

Neural correlates for word-frequency effect in Chinese natural reading.

Word frequency effect has always been of interest for reading research because of its critical role in exploring mental processing underlying reading behaviors. Access to word frequency information has long been considered an indicator of the beginning of lexical processing and the most sensitive marker for studying when the brain begins to extract semantic information Sereno & Rayner, Brain and Cognition, 42, 78-81, (2000), Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 489-493, (2003). While the word frequency effect has been extensively studied in numerous eye-tracking and traditional EEG research using the RSVP paradigm, there is a lack of corresponding evidence in studies of natural reading. To find the neural correlates of the word frequency effect, we conducted a study of Chinese natural reading using EEG and eye-tracking coregistration to examine the time course of lexical processing. Our results reliably showed that the word frequency effect first appeared in the N200 time window and the bilateral occipitotemporal regions. Additionally, the word frequency effect was reflected in the N400 time window, spreading from the occipital region to the central parietal and frontal regions. Our current study provides the first neural correlates for word-frequency effect in natural Chinese reading so far, shedding new light on understanding lexical processing in natural reading and could serve as an important basis for further reading study when considering neural correlates in a realistic manner.

How sex and gender shape functional brain networks.

Sex and gender differences exist in the prevalence and clinical manifestation of common brain disorders. Identifying their neural correlates may help improve clinical care.

Neural correlates of approach–avoidance behavior in healthy subjects: Effects of low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is implicated in top-down regulation of emotion, but the detailed network mechanisms require further elucidation. To investigate network-level functions of the dlPFC in emotion regulation, this study measured changes in task-based activation, resting-state and task-based functional connectivity (FC) patterns following suppression of dlPFC excitability by 1-Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). In a sham-controlled within-subject design, 1-Hz active or sham rTMS was applied to the right dlPFC of 19 healthy volunteers during two separate counterbalanced sessions. Following active and sham rTMS, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was conducted in the resting state (rs-fMRI) and during approach–avoidance task responses to pictures with positive and negative emotional content (task-based fMRI). Activation and generalized psychophysiological interaction analyses were performed on task-based fMRI, and seed-based FC analysis was applied to rs-fMRI data. Task-based fMRI revealed greater and more lateralized activation in the right hemisphere during negative picture responses compared to positive picture responses. After active rTMS, greater activation was observed in the left middle prefrontal cortex compared to sham rTMS. Further, rTMS reduced response times and error rates in approach to positive pictures compared to negative pictures. Significant FC changes due to rTMS were observed predominantly in the frontoparietal network (FPN) and visual network (VN) during the task, and in the default mode network (DMN) and VN at rest. Suppression of right dlPFC activity by 1-Hz rTMS alters large-scale neural networks and modulates emotion, supporting potential applications for the treatment of mood disorders.

Investigating the Brain Mechanisms of Externally Cued Sit-to-Stand Movement in Parkinson's Disease.

One of the more challenging daily-life actions for Parkinson's disease patients is starting to stand from a sitting position. Parkinson's disease patients are known to have difficulty with self-initiated movements and benefit from external cues. However, the brain processes underlying external cueing as an aid remain unknown. The advent of mobile electroencephalography (EEG) now enables the investigation of these processes in dynamic sit-to-stand movements. To identify cortical correlates of the mechanisms underlying auditory cued sit-to-stand movement in Parkinson's disease. Twenty-two Parkinson's disease patients and 24 healthy age-matched participants performed self-initiated and externally cued sit-to-stand movements while cortical activity was recorded through 32-channel mobile EEG. Overall impaired integration of sensory and motor information can be seen in the Parkinson's disease patients exhibiting less modulation in the θ band during movement compared to healthy age-matched controls. How Parkinson's disease patients use external cueing of sit-to-stand movements can be seen in larger high β power over sensorimotor brain areas compared to healthy controls, signaling sensory integration supporting the maintenance of motor output. This appears to require changes in cognitive processing to update the motor plan, reflected in frontal θ power increases in Parkinson's disease patients when cued. These findings provide the first neural evidence for why and how cueing improves motor function in sit-to-stand movement in Parkinson's disease. The Parkinson's disease patients' neural correlates indicate that cueing induces greater activation of motor cortical areas supporting the maintenance of a more stable motor output, but involves the use of cognitive resources to update the motor plan. © 2024 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Alterations in Neural Activation During Facial Emotion Processing in Adolescent Male Participants With Klinefelter Syndrome.

Klinefelter syndrome (KS) is the most common sex-chromosome aneuploidy (47,XXY), affecting 1 in 500 male participants. The phenotype of male participants with KS includes both physical features, such as tall stature and testicular insufficiency, and behavioral alterations, including difficulties in social functioning, anxiety, and depression. Studies examining underlying neural alterations associated with the behavioral phenotype, however, are sparse. We aimed to address this gap in knowledge using functional magnetic resonance imaging in conjunction with an emotion processing paradigm. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was conducted on 38 children and adolescents with KS (Mage = 12.85, SD = 2.45) and 47 typical developing (control) boys (Mage = 12.04, SD = 1.82) as they completed a facial emotion processing task. Group differences in activation occurring during the processing of angry versus neutral faces were examined while controlling for age. The results indicated that relative to typically developing boys, boys with KS exhibited anomalous increases in activation of frontal, temporal, and occipital cortices. Within the KS group, secondary analyses indicated that greater activation in these regions was associated with more internalizing symptoms (e.g., anxiety, depression, withdrawn behaviors) and greater social impairments (e.g., social cognition, social communication, social motivation, social communication and interaction, functional communication). The findings from this study indicate a possible neural correlation for difficulties in social and emotional function in KS and add to a growing body of research aimed at increasing our understanding of neural biomarkers in this condition. Future studies that examine the influence of testosterone-replacement therapy on these differences are warranted.

Neural correlates of depression-related smartphone language use in adolescents

Magnetic resonance imaging has provided pathophysiological insights into adolescent depression but is a relatively inaccessible technology. Generating scalable indicators of depression that are informed by neuroscience is therefore critical for providing solutions that allow us to detect and treat this devastating disorder. In this preregistered study, we investigated whether passively acquired smartphone-based language usage represents such an indicator of depression and explored whether the neural correlates of depression mediate or moderate this association. Forty adolescents (ages 14–18 years) with (n = 26) and without (n = 14) depression completed clinical assessments and a resting-state fMRI scan, prior to downloading a passive mobile sensing app to their smartphones. Linguistic features derived from over 1.2 million words (319,364 messages) across all smartphone apps were used to examine word usage patterns. Independent components analysis followed by dual regression was used to derive intrinsic networks commonly associated with depression: central executive network (CEN), default mode network (DMN), and salience network (SN). Depression was associated with more negative emotion word usage and fewer future-focus word usage on a daily basis (all ps < 0.05). Higher depressive symptoms and brain networks DMN and CEN were associated with greater first-person pronoun usage (all ps < 0.04). Accounting for CEN connectivity amplified the positive association between depressive symptoms and first-person pronoun usage. Lower SN–CEN connectivity moderated the association between depression and negative emotion word usage. Depression in adolescents is associated with naturalistic language usage during smartphone activities and may represent neurocognitive biases that are candidate treatment targets for interventions.

Oscillatory neural correlates of police firearms decision making in virtual reality.

We investigated the neural signatures of expert decision making in the context of police training in a virtual reality-based shoot/don't shoot scenario. Police officers can use stopping force against a perpetrator, which may require using a firearm and each decision made by an officer to discharge their firearm or not has substantial implications. Therefore it is important to understand the cognitive and underlying neurophysiological processes that lead to such a decision. We used virtual reality-based simulations to elicit ecologically valid behaviour from Authorised Firearms Officers (AFOs) in the UK and matched novices in a Shoot/Don't Shoot task and recorded electroencephalography concurrently. We found that AFOs had consistently faster response times than novices, suggesting our task was sensitive to their expertise. To investigate differences in decision making processes under varying levels of threat and expertise, we analysed electrophysiological signals originating from the anterior cingulate cortex. In line with similar response inhibition tasks, we found greater increases in pre-response theta power when participants inhibited the response to shoot when under no threat as compared to shooting. Most importantly, we showed that when preparing against threat, theta power increase was greater for experts than novices, suggesting that differences in performance between experts and novices are due to their greater orientation towards threat. Additionally, shorter beta-rebounds suggest that experts were "ready for action" sooner. More generally, we demonstrate that investigation of expert decision making should incorporate naturalistic stimuli and an appropriate control group to enhance validity.Significance statement This study aims to unravel the complexities of how expertise affects neural processes during uncertain scenarios by investigating police decision making. We present our variant on shoot/don't shoot tasks which was co-developed with police instructors to allow graded levels of force to elicit realistic responses. We show that experts exhibit superior performance in this virtual reality-based task and that this is associated with greater modulation of frontal midline theta activity prior to a decision. Understanding the intricacies of police decision making-especially concerning the use of firearms-is vital to inform policy effectively. Further, the naturalistic imaging methods employed here hold broader significance for neuroscientists aiming to investigate real world behaviour.

Cortico-striatal white-matter connectivity underlies the ability to exert goal-directed control.

The balance between goal-directed and habitual control has been proposed to determine the flexibility of instrumental behaviour, in both humans and animals. This view is supported by neuroscientific studies that have implicated dissociable neural pathways in the ability to flexibly adjust behaviour when outcome values change. A previous Diffusion Tensor Imaging study provided preliminary evidence that flexible instrumental performance depends on the strength of parallel cortico-striatal white-matter pathways previously implicated in goal-directed and habitual control. Specifically, estimated white-matter strength between caudate and ventromedial prefrontal cortex correlated positively with behavioural flexibility, and posterior putamen-premotor cortex connectivity correlated negatively, in line with the notion that these pathways compete for control. However, the sample size of the original study was limited, and so far, there have been no attempts to replicate these findings. In the present study, we aimed to conceptually replicate these findings by testing a large sample of 205 young adults to relate cortico-striatal connectivity to performance on the slips-of-action task. In short, we found only positive neural correlates of goal-directed performance, including striatal connectivity (caudate and anterior putamen) with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. However, we failed to provide converging evidence for the existence of a neural habit system that puts limits on the capacity for flexible, goal-directed action. We discuss the implications of our findings for dual-process theories of instrumental action.

Neural correlates of impulsivity in amphetamine use disorder

Impulsivity is a trait associated with several psychiatric conditions, not least addictive disorders. While the neural mechanisms behind certain aspects of impulsivity have been studied extensively, there are few imaging studies examining this neurocircuitry in populations with substance use disorders. Therefore, we aimed to examine the functional connectivity of relevant neural networks, and their possible association with trait impulsivity, in a sample with severe amphetamine use disorder and a control group of healthy subjects. We used data collected in a randomized clinical trial studying the acute effects of oral naltrexone in amphetamine use disorder. Our final sample included 32 amphetamine users and 27 healthy controls. Trait impulsivity was rated with the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11, and functional connectivity was measured during resting-state fMRI, looking specifically at networks involving prefrontal regions previously implicated in studies of impulsivity. Amphetamine users had higher subjective ratings of impulsivity as compared to healthy controls, and these scores correlated positively with a wide-spread prefrontal hyperconnectivity that was found among the amphetamine users. These findings highlight the importance of aberrant prefrontal function in severe addiction.

What Chemsex does to the brain - neural correlates (ERP) regarding decision making, impulsivity and hypersexuality.

Chemsex describes the use of specific substances (methamphetamine, GHB/GBL, mephedrone, ketamine) which initiate or enhance sexual experiences and is mainly prevalent among men who have sex with men. Many Chemsex users experience somatic complications (for example sexually transmitted diseases) and sometimes adverse sociological, psychological, and neurological symptoms, such as depression, impulse control disorders or hypersexuality. Changes in impulsivity and deficits in executive functions have demonstrated to be associated with addiction and impulse control disorders as well as frontal brain dysfunction and behavioral control deficits. This study aims to explore the effects of neurophysiological correlates of inhibition and decision making in Chemsex users with an EEG paradigm using event-related potentials (N2, P3). 15 Chemsex users and 14 matched control subjects, all of them men who have sex with man, participated in an auditory Go/NoGo/Voluntary Selection EEG paradigm. In addition, clinical data (e.g. regarding depression), demographic information as well as measures of well-being and sexual behavior were collected. The results demonstrated that clinical symptoms, hypersexuality, and sexual risk behavior were more pronounced in Chemsex users compared to non-users. P3 amplitudes did not differ significantly between groups. However, the Chemsex users showed decreased electrophysiological N2 responses in fronto-central brain regions during decision-making, indicating compromised executive function and inhibitory control. The observed impairments may lead to increased risk behavior regarding drug abuse and hypersexuality. Understanding the neurobiological mechanisms can contribute to targeted interventions in order to mitigate the negative consequences of engaging in Chemsex and improve general well-being.

Increased anti-correlation between the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the default mode network following Stanford Neuromodulation Therapy (SNT): analysis of a double-blinded, randomized, sham-controlled trial

SNT is a high-dose accelerated intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) protocol coupled with functional-connectivity-guided targeting that is an efficacious and rapid-acting therapy for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). We used resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) data from a double-blinded sham-controlled randomized controlled trial1 to reveal the neural correlates of SNT-based symptom improvement. Neurobehavioral data were acquired at baseline, post-treatment, and 1-month follow-up. Our primary analytic objective was to investigate changes in seed-based functional connectivity (FC) following SNT and hypothesized that FC changes between the treatment target and the sgACC, DMN, and CEN would ensue following active SNT but not sham. We also investigated the durability of post-treatment observed FC changes at a 1-month follow-up. Study participants included transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-naive adults with a primary diagnosis of moderate-to-severe TRD. Fifty-four participants were screened, 32 were randomized, and 29 received active or sham SNT. An additional 5 participants were excluded due to imaging artifacts, resulting in 12 participants per group (Sham: 5F; SNT: 5F). Although we did not observe any significant group × time effects on the FC between the individualized stimulation target (L-DLPFC) and the CEN or sgACC, we report an increased magnitude of negative FC between the target site and the DMN post-treatment in the active as compared to sham SNT group. This change in FC was sustained at the 1-month follow-up. Further, the degree of change in FC was correlated with improvements in depressive symptoms. Our results provide initial evidence for the putative changes in the functional organization of the brain post-SNT.

Increased anti-correlation between the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the default mode network following Stanford Neuromodulation Therapy (SNT): analysis of a double-blinded, randomized, sham-controlled trial

SNT is a high-dose accelerated intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) protocol coupled with functional-connectivity-guided targeting that is an efficacious and rapid-acting therapy for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). We used resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) data from a double-blinded sham-controlled randomized controlled trial1 to reveal the neural correlates of SNT-based symptom improvement. Neurobehavioral data were acquired at baseline, post-treatment, and 1-month follow-up. Our primary analytic objective was to investigate changes in seed-based functional connectivity (FC) following SNT and hypothesized that FC changes between the treatment target and the sgACC, DMN, and CEN would ensue following active SNT but not sham. We also investigated the durability of post-treatment observed FC changes at a 1-month follow-up. Study participants included transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-naive adults with a primary diagnosis of moderate-to-severe TRD. Fifty-four participants were screened, 32 were randomized, and 29 received active or sham SNT. An additional 5 participants were excluded due to imaging artifacts, resulting in 12 participants per group (Sham: 5F; SNT: 5F). Although we did not observe any significant group × time effects on the FC between the individualized stimulation target (L-DLPFC) and the CEN or sgACC, we report an increased magnitude of negative FC between the target site and the DMN post-treatment in the active as compared to sham SNT group. This change in FC was sustained at the 1-month follow-up. Further, the degree of change in FC was correlated with improvements in depressive symptoms. Our results provide initial evidence for the putative changes in the functional organization of the brain post-SNT.

Linking social reward responsiveness and affective responses to the social environment: An ecological momentary assessment study.

Social support is a key predictor of well-being, but not everyone experiences mental health benefits from receiving it. However, given that a growing number of interventions are based on social support, it is crucial to identify the features that make individuals more likely to benefit from social ties. Emerging evidence suggests that neural responses to positive social feedback (i.e., social reward) might relate to individual differences in social functioning, but potential mechanisms linking these neural responses to psychological outcomes are yet unclear. This study examined whether neural correlates of social reward processing, indexed by the reward positivity (RewP), relate to individuals' affective experience following self-reported real-world positive social support events. To this aim, 193 university students (71% females) underwent an EEG assessment during the Island Getaway task and completed a 10-day ecological momentary assessment where participants reported their positive and negative affects (PA, NA) nine times a day and the count of daily positive and negative events. Experiencing a higher number of social support positive events was associated with higher PA. The RewP moderated this association, such that individuals with greater neural response to social feedback at baseline had a stronger positive association between social support positive events count and PA. Individual differences in the RewP to social feedback might be one indicator of the likelihood of experiencing positive affect when receiving social support.

Creative connections: the neural correlates of semantic relatedness are associated with creativity

The associative theory of creativity proposes that creative ideas result from connecting remotely related concepts in memory. Previous research found that higher creative individuals exhibit a more flexible organization of semantic memory, generate more uncommon word associations, and judge remote concepts as more related. In this study (N = 93), we used fMRI to investigate brain regions involved in judging the relatedness of concepts that vary in their semantic distance, and how such neural involvement relates to individual differences in creativity. Brain regions where activity increased with semantic relatedness mainly overlapped with default, control, salience, semantic control, and multiple demand networks. The default and semantic control networks exhibited increased involvement when evaluating more remote associations. Finally, higher creative people, who provided higher relatedness judgements on average, exhibited lower activity in those regions, possibly reflecting higher neural efficiency. We discuss these findings in the context of the neurocognitive processing underlying creativity. Overall, our findings indicate that judging remote concepts as related reflects a cognitive mechanism underlying creativity and shed light on the neural correlates of this mechanism.

Computational modeling of social evaluative decision-making elucidates individual differences in adolescent anxiety.

Adolescents experience significant developmental changes during a time of heightened sensitivity to social cues, particularly rejection by peers, which can be especially overwhelming for those with elevated levels of social anxiety. Social evaluative decision-making tasks have been useful in uncovering the neural correlates of information processing biases; however, linking youths' task-based performance to individual differences in psychopathology (e.g., anxiety symptoms) has proven more elusive. Here, we address this weakness with drift diffusion modeling to decompose youths' performance on the social judgment paradigm (SJP) to determine if this approach is useful in discovering individual differences in anxiety symptoms, as well as puberty, age, and sex. A sample of 103 adolescents (55 males, Mage = 14.49, SD = 1.69) completed the SJP and self-report measures of anxiety, as well as self- and parent-reported measures of puberty. The decision threshold parameter, reflecting the amount of evidence needed to make a social evaluative decision, predicted youth self-reported anxiety, above and beyond typical metrics of SJP performance. Our results highlight the potential advantage of parsing task performance according to the underlying cognitive processes. Future research would likely benefit from applying computational modeling approaches to social judgment tasks when attempting to uncover performance-based individual differences in psychopathology.