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Error-processing abnormalities in pediatric anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2015

Kate D. Fitzgerald*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Stephan F. Taylor
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
*
*Address for correspondence, Kate Fitzgerald, MD, University of Michigan – Psychiatry, 4250 Plymouth Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. (Email: [email protected])

Abstract

Anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorders are among the earliest occurring psychopathology and may derive from atypical maturation of neural networks for error processing. Psychological models have alternately suggested that over-detection of errors, excessive caring about errors, or failure of errors to elicit regulatory control could associate with the expression of anxiety. In this review article, the potential relevance of error processing for anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorders is described in the context of neurophysiological and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research demonstrating altered brain response to errors in pediatric and adult patients. Finally, hypotheses about developmentally sensitive mechanisms of anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorders are drawn from the extant literature, and avenues for clinical translation are discussed.

Type
Review Articles
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2015 

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