ASSOCIATION BETWEEN ERP-WAVEFORMS IN A GAMBLING TASK AND ANTENATAL MATERNAL ANXIETY: ADOLESCENTS OF ANXIOUS MOTHERS SHOW DIFFERENT FRONTAL LOBE FUNCTIONING

Objectives: Negative emotions experienced by the mother during pregnancy are reported to be negatively associated with the development of the child. Associations were found with emotional, behavioral and recently also with cognitive development. The aim of the present study was to psychophysiologically extend previous findings of specific cognitive impairments in adolescents of mothers who experienced high levels of anxiety during their pregnancy.

Methods: Using a gambling paradigm, event-related potentials (ERP) of eight adolescents of mothers who experienced high levels of anxiety during pregnancy were compared to ERPs of eight adolescents of mothers with low to average levels of anxiety during pregnancy.

Results: Adolescents of highly anxious mothers showed a different behavioral pattern. They were less able to inhibit their gambling response, gambled more in unfavorable trials and gained less points. In the ERPs these adolescents showed a larger negative peak at 120ms post stimulus. While this peak was located at frontal electrode sites and extended to the central electrodes in adolescents of low-average anxious mothers, it extended as far as the posterior electrodes in adolescents of highly anxious mothers. In addition these adolescents did not show a positive going peak around 500ms post stimulus that was clearly visible in adolescents of low-average anxious mothers. This difference was maximal in more difficult trials where subjects had to make an active decision about their gambling response.

Conclusion: These results are the first showing evidence for an association between antenatal maternal anxiety and altered brain activity in the offspring.