Examining Blunted Initial Response to Reward and Recent Suicidal Ideation in Children and Adolescents Using Event-Related Potentials: Failure to Conceptually Replicate Across Two Independent Samples

Abstract

A previous study found that children with recent suicidal ideation had blunted neural reward processing (as measured by the reward positivity), compared with matched controls, and that this difference was driven by reduced neural responses to monetary loss rather than to reward. Here, we aimed to conceptually replicate and extend these findings in two samples (n = 264, 27 with suicidal ideation; n = 314, 49 with suicidal ideation at baseline) of children and adolescents (11–15 years old and 8–15 years old, respectively). Results from both samples showed no evidence that children and adolescents with suicidal ideation have abnormal reward or loss processing nor that reward processing predicts suicidal ideation 2 years later. The results highlight the need for greater statistical power as well as continued research examining the neural underpinnings of suicidal thoughts and behaviors.