Magee Joshua C, Dreyer-Oren Sarah E, Sarfan Laurel D, Teachman Bethany A, Clerkin Elise M
Miami University, 90 North Patterson Ave., Oxford, OH 45056.
University of Virginia, Department of Psychology, 102 Gilmer Hall, P.O. Box 400400 Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400.
J Obsessive Compuls Relat Disord. 2019 Oct;23. doi: 10.1016/j.jocrd.2017.12.003. Epub 2017 Dec 12.
Cognitive control is central to the phenomenon of intrusive thinking in obsessive-compulsive and related disorders. The current study tested how attempts at cognitive control are impacted by self- vs. other-generated distractor thoughts. Participants (=1913) were randomly assigned to suppress or monitor an intrusive thought and also randomly assigned to: a) self-generate a distractor, b) receive a distractor, or c) receive no distractor guidance. Participants reported subsequent thought recurrences, perceived success and effort keeping the thought out of mind, and positive and negative affect during a one-minute thinking period and a one-minute monitoring period. During the first thinking period only, self-generated distractors resulted in greater perceived control (<.001; during monitoring instructions only) relative to no guidance, and less effort (s<.001) relative to both other conditions. Interestingly, self-generated distractors led to longer duration of recurrences relative to both other conditions (s≤.007). Finally, there were no distractor differences in trajectories of positive and negative affect (s>.10). These findings suggest that the source of distractors may inform when attempts to control intrusive thinking will be helpful versus harmful.
认知控制是强迫症及相关障碍中侵入性思维现象的核心。当前研究测试了自我产生与他人产生的干扰性想法如何影响认知控制的尝试。参与者（n = 1913）被随机分配去抑制或监控一个侵入性想法，并且也被随机分配到：a）自我产生一个干扰物，b）接收一个干扰物，或者c）不接受干扰物引导。参与者报告了随后的想法重现、将想法排除在脑海之外的感知到的成功和努力，以及在一分钟思考期和一分钟监控期内的积极和消极情绪。仅在第一个思考期内，相对于无引导，自我产生的干扰物导致更高的感知控制（p <.001；仅在监控指令期间），并且相对于其他两种情况，努力程度更低（p <.001）。有趣的是，相对于其他两种情况，自我产生的干扰物导致想法重现的持续时间更长（p≤.007）。最后，在积极和消极情绪轨迹方面没有干扰物差异（p>.10）。这些发现表明，干扰物的来源可能会告知何时控制侵入性思维的尝试会有帮助或有害。
