Evidence for specificity of the impact of punishment on error-related brain activity in high versus low trait anxious individuals

A previous study suggests that when participants were punished with a loud noise after committing errors, the error-related negativity (ERN) was enhanced in high trait anxious individuals. The current study sought to extend these findings by examining the ERN in conditions when punishment was related and unrelated to error commission as a function of individual differences in trait anxiety symptoms; further, the current study utilized an electric shock as an aversive unconditioned stimulus. Results confirmed that the ERN was increased when errors were punished among high trait anxious individuals compared to low anxious individuals; this effect was not observed when punishment was unrelated to errors. Findings suggest that the threat-value of errors may underlie the association between certain anxious traits and punishment-related increases in the ERN.