Age-Related Effects on Response Inhibition in Youth at Familial Risk for Bipolar Disorder

Altered response inhibition, contributing to impulsivity, has been proposed as a cognitive endophenotype of Bipolar Disorder. It remains unclear to what extend bipolar offspring exhibit altered response inhibition compared to offspring of parents with a non bipolar psychopathology and healthy offspring of healthy parents. Behavioral performance during an affective response inhibition task was examined among these groups. Findings suggest that younger bipolar offspring exhibit a deficit in response inhibition to emotional stimuli as evidenced by higher commission errors compared to non bipolar offspring and healthy controls. Findings are consistent with evidence supporting altered early-onset response inhibtion as a cognitive endophenotype of Bipolar Disorder.