Individual Differences in Infant Neurocognitive Responses to Cognitive Conflict:  Associations between Temperament and the Neurodevelopmental Trajectory of Prediction Error

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dc.contributor.authorHarrison Jr, Jerry Douglasen
dc.contributor.committeechairBell, Martha Annen
dc.contributor.committeememberDiana, Rachel A.en
dc.contributor.committeememberKatz, Benjamin D.en
dc.contributor.committeememberCuevas, Kimberly Sueen
dc.contributor.committeememberHoffman, Kurt A.en
dc.contributor.departmentPsychologyen
dc.date.accessioned2026-06-05T08:01:25Zen
dc.date.available2026-06-05T08:01:25Zen
dc.date.issued2026-06-04en
dc.description.abstractgeneralPrediction error is a critical brain process that occurs when we receive rewards or punishments, or when something unexpected happens. Recent research in clinical psychology and psychiatry links differences in this process to mood and anxiety disorders. Another well-established predictor of these disorders, particularly in childhood, is temperament. Temperament refers to inborn biological differences in how people react to their environment and regulate those reactions and can be measured as early as 4 months of age. For example, children who are better at controlling their emotions in frustrating situations also tend to notice and respond to environmental changes more quickly. On the other hand, angrier infants tend to be poor at noticing that their behavior was associated with consequences, something like a prediction error. This dissertation aimed to bridge research on temperament and cognition with research on prediction error and reinforcement learning. Identifying a connection between temperament and prediction error in infancy could help us identify who is at risk of developing mood and anxiety disorders as early as possible and hopefully prevent serious disorders from developing. Brainwave data were collected from 41 infants aged 7 to 12 months during a memory task to track changes in the brain's prediction error signal over this period. The study aimed to describe any developmental changes in this signal, its relationship with temperament, and apply a reinforcement learning model to the task performance data. Results showed minimal change in the prediction error signal over time, and when learning rate was included in the model, this effect disappeared entirely. However, infants who updated their decision-making more strongly in response to prediction error showed more efficient brain processing overall. No brainwave differences were found based on the task condition expected to elicit prediction error. Temperament was related to individual differences in brainwave activity between infants, but not to any specific task condition or learning process. This suggests that temperament, specifically, an infant's ability to resist having their attention captured, reflects broader individual differences rather than a distinct cognitive process.en
dc.description.degreeDoctor of Philosophyen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.othervt_gsexam:47358en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10919/143261en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/en
dc.subjectMedial frontal thetaen
dc.subjectreinforcement learningen
dc.subjectlinear mixed-effectsen
dc.subjectinfancyen
dc.subjecttemperamenten
dc.titleIndividual Differences in Infant Neurocognitive Responses to Cognitive Conflict:  Associations between Temperament and the Neurodevelopmental Trajectory of Prediction Erroren
dc.typeDissertationen
thesis.degree.disciplinePsychologyen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.leveldoctoralen
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen

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