Neural responses to social decision-making and their associated factors among nonsuicidal self-injured adolescents: An event-related potentials study

Abstract

Objective

The neuroelectrophysiology mechanisms of the connection between nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and impairment of social decision-making function remain unknown. As the event-related potentials (ERPs) technique has been widely used in neurobiology research because of its advantage of high temporal resolution, we conducted this study to explore the ERPs of decision-making function among adolescents with NSSI.

Method

This study was designed to compare patients with mood disorder plus NSSI with mood disorder patients without NSSI using a 2:1 ratio. Participants aged 12–18 years were recruited from the outpatient department of psychiatry at Nanfang Hospital. Sociodemographic and psychological data were collected. The Ultimatum Game, a task examining individuals' social decision-making, was conducted with the ERP technique to record participants’ neural responses. The associations between ERPs characteristics and psychological factors were examined by using correlation analysis and regression analysis.

Results

In total, 90 participants were eligible, with 60 in the NSSI group and 30 in the non-NSSI group. N1 latency in the unfair condition was positively correlated with Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale scores (r = 0.257), whereas P2 latency in the fair condition was correlated with agreeableness personality (r = 0.250). Regression analysis revealed that N1 latency in the unfair condition was positively associated with NSSI (ORs ranged 1.07–1.10), whereas P2 latency in the fair condition was negatively associated (ORs ranged 0.95–0.97).

Conclusion

NSSI patients tended to exhibit impairment in decision-making function including initial cognitive value judgment, attentional allocation, and working memory process. ERPs characteristics including N1 latency and P2 latency may be predictors of NSSI.