title: The functional magnetic resonance imaging-based verbal fluency test in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
abstract: Clinical use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is limited by a relative absence of fMRI task development, standardization, and normative performance databases. We investigated the fMRI-based verbal fluency test (f-VFT) by quantitatively evaluating brain activation patterns in OCD participants (8 females and 4 males) compared with a normative database (16 females and 16 males). At the group level, OCD participants and references had highly similar activation in left-hemisphere language regions, including the precentral/premotor cortex, thalamus, basal ganglia, and inferior frontal gyrus/frontal operculum. At the interindividual level, however, the OCD group had highly variable activation patterns in the dorsal and ventral regions of the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) that may correspond with differences in demographic and clinical variables. Further, there were significant correlations in the OCD participants between pre-SMA dorsal and ventral activation and between dorsal pre-SMA activation and perfectionism. Our findings suggest considerable functional anatomical overlap in left-hemisphere language regions between OCD participants and references but significantly higher pre-SMA interindividual variability in OCD compared to the reference group that may be relevant in clinical fMRI application and the theoretical understanding of OCD.
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology Section, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, 2101 Commonwealth Blvd, Suite C, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA. liszt8@gmail.com
authors.forename: Fu L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Woon
authors.forename: Mark D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.forename: Chris H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Dawson W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Hedges
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*