Evidence for an attentional bias for washing- and checking-relevant stimuli in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
There is equivocal evidence whether or not patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) share an attentional bias for concern-related material and if so, whether this reflects hypervigilance towards or problems to disengage from disorder-related material. In a recent study, we failed to detect an attentional bias in OCD patients using an emotional variant of the inhibition of return (IOR) paradigm containing OCD-relevant and neutral words. We reinvestigated the research question with a more stringent design that addressed potential moderators. A new IOR paradigm was set up using visual stimuli. Forty-two OCD patients and 31 healthy controls were presented with neutral (e.g., cup), anxiety-relevant (e.g., shark), checking-relevant (e.g., broken door), and washing-relevant (e.g., dirty toilet) cue pictures at one of two possible locations. Following a short or long interval sensitive to automatic versus controlled processes, a simple target stimulus appeared at either the cued or the uncued location. OCD patients responded significantly slower to targets that were preceded by an OCD-relevant cue. Results lend support to the claim that OCD patients share a processing abnormality for concern-related visual material.
Moritz
Steffen
S
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. moritz@uke.uni-hamburg.de
Von Mühlenen
Adrian
A
Randjbar
Sarah
S
Fricke
Susanne
S
Jelinek
Lena
L
D000328:Adult; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D015982:Bias; D003463:Cues; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology