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Action-Outcome Knowledge Dissociates From Behavior in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Following Contingency Degradation

BACKGROUND: In obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), actions persist despite being inappropriate to the situation and without relationship to the overall goal. Dysfunctional beliefs have traditionally been postulated to underlie this condition. More recently, OCD has been characterized in terms of an...

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Autores principales: Vaghi, Matilde M., Cardinal, Rudolf N., Apergis-Schoute, Annemieke M., Fineberg, Naomi A., Sule, Akeem, Robbins, Trevor W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier, Inc 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6374986/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30545754
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2018.09.014
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author Vaghi, Matilde M.
Cardinal, Rudolf N.
Apergis-Schoute, Annemieke M.
Fineberg, Naomi A.
Sule, Akeem
Robbins, Trevor W.
author_facet Vaghi, Matilde M.
Cardinal, Rudolf N.
Apergis-Schoute, Annemieke M.
Fineberg, Naomi A.
Sule, Akeem
Robbins, Trevor W.
author_sort Vaghi, Matilde M.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: In obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), actions persist despite being inappropriate to the situation and without relationship to the overall goal. Dysfunctional beliefs have traditionally been postulated to underlie this condition. More recently, OCD has been characterized in terms of an imbalance between the goal-directed and the habit systems. To test these competing hypotheses, we used a novel experimental task designed to test subjective action-outcome knowledge of the effectiveness of actions (i.e., instrumental contingency), together with the balance between goal-directed and habitual responding. METHODS: Twenty-seven patients with OCD and 27 healthy control subjects were tested on a novel task involving the degradation of an action-outcome contingency. Sensitivity to instrumental contingency and the extent to which explicitly reported action-outcome knowledge guided behavior were probed by measuring response rate and subjectively reported judgments. RESULTS: Patients with OCD responded more than healthy control subjects in situations in which an action was less causally related to obtaining an outcome. However, patients showed intact explicit action-outcome knowledge, as assessed by self-report. In patients, the relationship between causality judgment and responding was altered; therefore, their actions were dissociated from explicit action-outcome knowledge. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate reduced sensitivity to instrumental contingency in OCD, reinforcing the notion of a deficient goal-directed system in this disorder. By showing a dissociation between subjectively reported action-outcome knowledge and behavior, the data provide experimental evidence for the ego-dystonic nature of OCD.
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spelling pubmed-63749862019-02-26 Action-Outcome Knowledge Dissociates From Behavior in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Following Contingency Degradation Vaghi, Matilde M. Cardinal, Rudolf N. Apergis-Schoute, Annemieke M. Fineberg, Naomi A. Sule, Akeem Robbins, Trevor W. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging Article BACKGROUND: In obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), actions persist despite being inappropriate to the situation and without relationship to the overall goal. Dysfunctional beliefs have traditionally been postulated to underlie this condition. More recently, OCD has been characterized in terms of an imbalance between the goal-directed and the habit systems. To test these competing hypotheses, we used a novel experimental task designed to test subjective action-outcome knowledge of the effectiveness of actions (i.e., instrumental contingency), together with the balance between goal-directed and habitual responding. METHODS: Twenty-seven patients with OCD and 27 healthy control subjects were tested on a novel task involving the degradation of an action-outcome contingency. Sensitivity to instrumental contingency and the extent to which explicitly reported action-outcome knowledge guided behavior were probed by measuring response rate and subjectively reported judgments. RESULTS: Patients with OCD responded more than healthy control subjects in situations in which an action was less causally related to obtaining an outcome. However, patients showed intact explicit action-outcome knowledge, as assessed by self-report. In patients, the relationship between causality judgment and responding was altered; therefore, their actions were dissociated from explicit action-outcome knowledge. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate reduced sensitivity to instrumental contingency in OCD, reinforcing the notion of a deficient goal-directed system in this disorder. By showing a dissociation between subjectively reported action-outcome knowledge and behavior, the data provide experimental evidence for the ego-dystonic nature of OCD. Elsevier, Inc 2019-02 /pmc/articles/PMC6374986/ /pubmed/30545754 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2018.09.014 Text en Crown Copyright © Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Vaghi, Matilde M.
Cardinal, Rudolf N.
Apergis-Schoute, Annemieke M.
Fineberg, Naomi A.
Sule, Akeem
Robbins, Trevor W.
Action-Outcome Knowledge Dissociates From Behavior in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Following Contingency Degradation
title Action-Outcome Knowledge Dissociates From Behavior in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Following Contingency Degradation
title_full Action-Outcome Knowledge Dissociates From Behavior in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Following Contingency Degradation
title_fullStr Action-Outcome Knowledge Dissociates From Behavior in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Following Contingency Degradation
title_full_unstemmed Action-Outcome Knowledge Dissociates From Behavior in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Following Contingency Degradation
title_short Action-Outcome Knowledge Dissociates From Behavior in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Following Contingency Degradation
title_sort action-outcome knowledge dissociates from behavior in obsessive-compulsive disorder following contingency degradation
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6374986/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30545754
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2018.09.014
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