Overall then, increased ERNs appear specific to disorders such as anxiety and depression, whereas decreased ERNs have been reported in individuals with substance abuse and impulsive personality characteristics. This pattern of increased and decreased ERNs fit well within contemporary models of psychopathology that posit two higher-order factors of psychopathology (Krueger, 1999): specifically, internalizing and externalizing disorders might be characterized by hyperactive and hypoactive error-processing, respectively, as indexed by the ERN.
