Children that have experienced psychosocial neglect display impairments in self-monitoring and controlling their behavior (cognitive control) and are at broad, transdiagnostic risk for psychopathology. However, the neural underpinnings of such effects remain unclear. Event-related mediofrontal theta oscillations reflect a neural process supporting cognitive control that may relate to transdiagnostic psychopathology risk. Recent work demonstrates reduced mediofrontal theta in rodent models of neglect; however, similar findings have not been reported in humans. Here, 136 children reared in Romanian institutions were randomly assigned to either a high-quality foster care intervention and placed with families or remained in institutions; 72 never-institutionalized children served as a comparison group. The intervention ended at 54 months; event-related mediofrontal theta and psychopathology were assessed at 12- and 16-year follow-up assessments. Institutional rearing (neglect) predicted reduced mediofrontal theta by age 16, which was linked to heightened transdiagnostic risk for psychopathology (P factor); no specific associations with internalizing/externalizing factors were present once transdiagnostic risk was accounted for. Earlier placement into foster care yielded greater mediofrontal activity by age 16. Moreover, foster care placement was associated with the developmental trajectory of mediofrontal theta across the adolescent period (ages 12–16), which was, in turn, associated with greater reductions in transdiagnostic risk across this same period. These data reflect the first experimental evidence that the development of mediofrontal theta is impacted by removal from situations of neglect in humans, and further characterizes the importance of studying developmental change in mediofrontal theta during the adolescent period.

遭受社会心理疏忽的儿童在自我监控和控制其行为（认知控制）方面显示出障碍，并且对精神病理学具有广泛的经诊断的风险。但是，这种作用的神经基础仍然不清楚。事件相关的中额叶theta振荡反映了支持认知控制的神经过程，该过程可能与经诊断的心理病理风险有关。最近的研究表明，在忽略的啮齿动物模型中，中额叶的角减少了。但是，尚未在人类中报道类似的发现。在这里，在罗马尼亚的机构中养育的136名儿童被随机分配到高质量的寄养服务中，并与家人同住或留在机构中；比较组中有72名从未寄养的儿童。干预结束于54个月；在12年和16年的随访评估中评估了与事件相关的中额叶theta和心理病理学。机构饲养（疏忽）预计到16岁时中额额叶theta减少，这与精神病理学（P因子）的转诊风险增加有关；一旦考虑了转诊风险，就没有与内在/外在因素的特定关联。较早地接受寄养服务会在16岁时产生更多的中额额叶活动，而且，寄养服务与整个青春期（12至16岁）的中额叶theta的发展轨迹有关，这反过来又会大大降低经转诊同期风险。