Abstract: The ERN is a negative deflection in the event-related potentials that peak approximately 50 ms after the commission of an error; it’s located around anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The ERN in classical paradigms of error processing research may reflect error detecting, conflict monitoring, reinforcement learning, or motivational/affective functions of ACC. A Lot of researches suggests that increased and decreased error-related brain activities are associated with the internalizing and externalizing dimensions of psychopathology, respectively. There are many issues worthy of further exploration in terms of the endophenotype construct of internalizing and externalizing disorders.

Key words: error processing, error-related brain activity (ERN), psychiatric disease, psychopathology, endophenotype