Department of Psychology and Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2013 Mar;44(1):30-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2012.07.002. Epub 2012 Jul 20.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by compulsions aimed at reducing anxiety associated with intrusive cognitions. However, compulsive behaviors such as repeated checking were found to increase rather than decrease uncertainty related to obsessive thoughts (e.g., whether the gas stove was turned off). Some recent studies illustrate that OCD patients and their family members have inhibitory deficits, often demonstrated by the stop-signal task. The current study aims to investigate relations between inhibitory control and effects of repeated checking.
Fifty-five healthy participants carried out a stop-signal task followed by a repeated-checking task. Additionally, participants were asked to complete self-report questionnaires measuring OCD, anxiety and depression symptoms.
Confirming our hypothesis, participants with poor inhibitory capabilities demonstrated greater uncertainty and memory distrust as a consequence of repeated checking than participants with good inhibitory control.
Our findings concern an initial investigation on a sample of healthy participants and should be replicated and extended to clinical populations.
These results suggest that deficits in inhibitory control may underlie cognitive vulnerability in OCD. An updated model integrating neuropsychological findings with current OCD models is suggested.
强迫症（OCD）是一种以强迫行为为特征的焦虑障碍，这些强迫行为旨在减轻与侵入性思维相关的焦虑。然而，一些研究发现，强迫行为如反复检查反而会增加而不是减少与强迫思维相关的不确定性（例如，煤气灶是否关闭）。最近的一些研究表明，强迫症患者及其家庭成员存在抑制缺陷，这通常可以通过停止信号任务来证明。本研究旨在探讨抑制控制与反复检查效果之间的关系。
55 名健康参与者完成了停止信号任务，随后进行了重复检查任务。此外，参与者还被要求完成自我报告问卷，以测量强迫症、焦虑和抑郁症状。
证实了我们的假设，与具有良好抑制控制能力的参与者相比，抑制能力差的参与者在进行反复检查后会表现出更大的不确定性和记忆不信任。
我们的研究结果涉及对健康参与者样本的初步调查，应在临床人群中进行复制和扩展。
这些结果表明，抑制控制缺陷可能是 OCD 认知易感性的基础。建议将神经心理学研究结果与现有的 OCD 模型相结合，提出一个更新的模型。
