Symptom-specific attentional bias to threatening stimuli in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
OBJECTIVE
There is mixed evidence as to whether patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have excessive attentional engagement and emotional response to OCD-related stimuli in the environment. Here we investigate the occurrence of an attentional bias toward specific OCD-related stimuli and its relationship with obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions.


METHODS
Forty-eight patients with OCD participated in an attentional bias task containing OCD- and non-OCD-related stimuli and had their performance compared with that of 24 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy control subjects. Severity of obsessive-compulsive and comorbid depressive symptoms was assessed using the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised and the Beck Depression Inventory, respectively.


RESULTS
Although there were significant and almost significant group effects on the reaction time (RT) toward OCD- and non-OCD-related figures, respectively, no difference between patients with OCD and controls was noted with regard to RT toward OCD-related figures minus RT toward non-OCD-related figures. Nevertheless, within the OCD group, partial correlational analysis controlled for age and severity of depression unveiled positive correlations between (1) obsessional symptoms and RT toward checking-related pictures and (2) ordering symptoms and RT toward ordering-related pictures.


CONCLUSIONS
The positive correlations between RT to content-specific stimuli and the severity of corresponding obsessive-compulsive symptoms suggest that patients with OCD experience difficulty in disengaging attention from personally salient stimuli.
Anxiety and Depression Research Program, Institute of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, CEP: 22290-140, Brazil.
Mara
M
Sizino da Victoria
Antonio Leandro
AL
Nascimento
Leonardo F
LF
Fontenelle
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index