# Heightened Performance Monitoring and Overcontrol: Neural Markers and Caregiving Processes in Developmental Risk Trajectories

> **NIH NIH K23** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $27,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anorexia nervosa, and chronic depression are
all debilitating, chronic, and often treatment-resistant mental disorders that are characterized by high rates of
comorbidity. These disorders also share an underlying transdiagnostic cognitive and emotional processing
style, namely, heightened performance monitoring and overcontrol (Research Domain Criteria (RDoC)
Cognitive Systems: Cognitive Control: Performance Monitoring). Little is known of how this underlying
characteristic of heightened performance monitoring and overcontrol (HPM/OC) develops in early childhood
prior to disorder onset. Moreover, it is largely unknown how this transdiagnostic construct contributes to
increasing symptoms of psychopathology and social impairment in young children. This knowledge may
provide meaningful targets for preventive intervention of multiple disorders. Consistent with the NIMH Strategic
plan, particularly Strategy Objective 2, to “chart mental illness trajectories to determine when, where, and how
to intervene,” this K23 application aims to identify neural markers and caregiving processes associated with
developmental risk trajectories of HPM/OC in young children. Under the mentorship of a diverse team of
experts in neurophysiological methods, developmental and caregiving processes in early childhood,
longitudinal and statistical methodology, and treatment of overcontrol, this proposal will examine the
developmental psychopathology of this NIMH RDoC construct in children age 5-6 during the transition to
school. Specifically, this proposal will use event-related potentials (ERPs) to identify neural markers of
HPM/OC and parent-child observational interactions to assess caregiving styles and dyadic features. Children
will be assessed two years later to investigate how neural markers and caregiving styles predict symptoms of
social anxiety, OCD and social impairment. Findings will inform the developmental course of this RDoC
construct in relation to trajectories of mental illness. The long-term goal is to understand the biological and
behavioral development of HPM/OC from early ages through adolescence so as to inform interventions directly
targeting HPM/OC prior to disorder onset. Mentored training will allow the applicant to gain expertise in ERP
methods and analysis, developmental psychopathology and caregiving processes in young children,
longitudinal design and analysis, and training in clinical translation to begin mechanistically identifying and
targeting youth with HPM/OC for early intervention.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10299265
- **Project number:** 3K23MH115074-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Kirsten Gilbert
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $27,000
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-03-10 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10299265

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10299265, Heightened Performance Monitoring and Overcontrol: Neural Markers and Caregiving Processes in Developmental Risk Trajectories (3K23MH115074-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10299265. Licensed CC0.

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