Registered replication report of the construct validity of the error‐related negativity (ERN): A multi‐site study of task‐specific ERN correlations with internalizing and externalizing symptoms

Abstract

AbstractIntact cognitive control is critical for goal‐directed behavior and is widely studied using the error‐related negativity (ERN). A common assumption in such studies is that ERNs recorded during different experimental paradigms reflect the same construct or functionally equivalent processes and that ERN is functionally distinct from other error‐monitoring event‐related brain potentials (ERPs; error positivity [Pe]), other neurophysiological indices of cognitive control (N2), and even other theoretically unrelated indices (visual N1). The present registered report represents a replication‐plus‐extension study of the psychometric validity of cognitive control ERPs and evaluated the convergent and divergent validity of ERN, Pe, N2, and visual N1 recorded during flanker, Stroop, and Go/no‐go tasks. Data from 182 participants were collected from two study sites, and ERP psychometric reliability and validity were evaluated. Findings supported replication of convergent and divergent validity of ERN, Pe, and ΔPe (error minus correct)—these ERPs correlated more with themselves across tasks than with other ERPs measured during the same task. Convergent validity of ΔERN across tasks was not replicated, despite high internal consistency. ERN strongly correlated with N2 at levels similar or higher than those in support of convergent validity for other ERPs, and the present study failed to provide evidence of divergent validity for ERN and Pe from N2 or N1. ERN and ΔERN were unrelated to internalizing or externalizing symptoms. Findings underscore the importance of considering the psychometric validity of ERPs, as it provides a foundation for interpreting and comparing ERPs across tasks and studies.