Preserved Error-Monitoring in Borderline Personality Disorder Patients with and without Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Behaviors

Background

The presence of non-suicidal self-injury acts in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is very prevalent. These behaviors are a public health concern and have become a poorly understood phenomenon in the community. It has been proposed that the commission of non-suicidal self-injury might be related to a failure in the brain network regulating executive functions. Previous studies have shown that BPD patients present an impairment in their capacity to monitor actions and conflicts associated with the performance of certain actions, which suppose an important aspect of cognitive control.

Method

We used Event Related Potentials to examine the behavioral and electrophysiological indexes associated with the error monitoring in two BPD outpatients groups (17 patients each) differentiated according to the presence or absence of non-suicidal self-injury behaviors. We also examined 17 age- and intelligence- matched healthy control participants.

Results

The three groups did not show significant differences in event-related potentials associated with errors (Error-Related Negativity and Pe) nor in theta power increase following errors.

Conclusions

This is the first study investigating the behavioral and electrophysiological error monitoring indexes in BPD patients characterized by their history of non-suicidal self-injury behaviors. Our results show that error monitoring is preserved in BPD patients and suggest that non-suicidal self-injury acts are not related to a dysfunction in the cognitive control mechanisms.

Below:  Grand average of response-locked ERPs at Fz, Cz, Pz and EOG electrodes for controls, SI-BPD and NI-BPD individuals. Correct trials are depicted in blue solid lines, and choice/stop-error trials in red lines. Data were low-pass filtered at 12 Hz for illustration purposes.

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By:  

Daniel Vega, Àngel Soto, Joan Ribas

Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Consorci Sanitari de l'Anoia, Igualada, Barcelona, Spain

Daniel Vega, Rafael Torrubia

Unitat de Psicologia Mèdica, Departament de Psiquiatria i Medicina Legal & Institut de Neurociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

Daniel Vega, Adrià Vilà-Balló, Julià Amengual, Antoni Rodríguez-Fornells, Josep Marco-Pallarés

Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute- IDIBELL, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain

Antoni Rodríguez-Fornells, Josep Marco-Pallarés

Department of Basic Psychology-Campus Bellvitge, University of Barcelona, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain

Antoni Rodríguez-Fornells

Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain

Josep Marco-Pallarés

Institut de Recerca en Cervell, Cognició i Conducta, IR3C, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

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