Cognitive control, or the ability to monitor performance and recruit and maintain cognitive processes to complete tasks, is theorized to relate to anxiety symptom development in youth. Anxiety has also been proposed to impact cognitive control in youth. Notably, the majority of electroencephalogram (EEG) research that has examined the association between anxiety and cognitive control has focused on a single event-related potential, the error-related negativity (ERN). Research examining the association between ERN and anxiety in youth has been largely mixed, and, as a result, age has been proposed as a moderator of this association in youth. However, age moderation has seldom been tested and the majority of research examining anxiety and the ERN in youth has been cross sectional in nature. Time-frequency (TF) analysis of EEG data has emerged as a novel method to examine timing and strength of neural oscillations relevant to cognitive control and anxiety. The aim of the current dissertation was two-fold: 1) to examine associations between anxiety and multiple measures of cognitive control, including the ERN, several TF metrics, and task behavior, and 2) to test age moderation of these associations. I analyzed data from a longitudinal study of 168 community youth ages 3 - 13 years old that completed a developmentally- appropriate Go/No Go Task at baseline, 18-month follow-up and 36-month follow-up. Generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety symptom symptoms were the focus of my analysis, because these symptoms have previously been shown to relate to the ERN in youth. Contrary to hypotheses, anxiety did not relate to measures of cognitive control at baseline or longitudinally, and this association was not moderated by baseline age or aging (ps> 0.05). I suggest that the associations between anxiety and cognitive control may be nuanced and point to directions for future investigation, including exploring stressors, development, and sex as moderators, as well as considering diverse measures of cognitive control and anxiety symptom severity. Understanding how and for whom anxiety relates to cognitive control will ultimately lead to more tailored and targeted clinical applications.
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