The error-related negativity (ERN) has demonstrated mixed associations with internalizing psychopathology. An enhanced ERN is associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder and some anxiety disorders, whereas an attenuated ERN is associated with depression. This pattern of results suggests that the ERN may relate to transdiagnostic dimensions within the internalizing spectrum. The present study examined relationships between the ERN and internalizing psychopathology at the symptom, subfactor (i.e., distress, obsessions/compulsions), and spectrum (i.e., internalizing) levels. In a sample of 818 adults, higher-order mediation modeling was used to estimate direct effects of the ERN on each hierarchical dimension, as well as indirect effects via higher-order dimensions. At the subfactor level, a larger ERN was directly related to greater obsessive/compulsive symptoms, while a smaller ERN was directly related to a greater distress subfactor. None of the self-reported symptoms were directly related to the ERN, and total effects of the ERN on dysphoria, insomnia, and ill temper were primarily explained by higher-order indirect effects via the distress subfactor and internalizing spectrum. These findings underscore the importance of understanding the hierarchical nature of the relationship between the ERN and internalizing psychopathology. These results suggest that many observed relationships between the ERN and psychopathology symptoms can be attributed to intermediate subfactor dimensions of internalizing psychopathology, but discrepant relationships with the ERN exist within the broader internalizing spectrum.

Reward-related brain activity has most often been examined during monetary reward paradigms, but it has also been examined in response to other types of reward (e.g., social reward) that often necessitate modifications to procedure and task design. It is important to investigate whether task factors impact the ability to assess the neural response common across different types of reward (i.e., domain-general) and specific to each type of reward (i.e., domain-specific). The present study involved a sample of 303 18-year-olds (49.5% female) who completed the Monetary Doors task and two social tasks: Social Reward, which was designed to be analogous to Monetary Doors, and Island Getaway, which differed procedurally from the other two tasks. Using electroencephalography to measure the time-domain reward positivity (RewP) and time-frequency delta and theta activity, we found that all three tasks elicited a RewP and greater delta activity to favorable outcomes (i.e., monetary win, social like/acceptance), and greater theta activity to unfavorable outcomes (i.e., monetary loss, social dislike/rejection). The RewP was positively correlated across all three tasks, indicating the ability to measure domain-general neural response, but the neural responses during Monetary Doors and Social Reward were more strongly correlated compared to the other task pairwise correlations for the RewP and delta activity. The present study suggests that different monetary and social reward tasks can elicit both domain-general and domain-specific brain activity but are influenced by task design. Recommendations are made regarding factors to consider when attempting to examine domain-general and domain-specific neural response to reward.