title: A role for the precuneus in thought-action fusion: evidence from participants with significant obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
abstract: Likelihood thought-action fusion (TAF-L) refers to a cognitive bias in which individuals believe that the mere thought of a negative event increases its likelihood of occurring in reality. TAF-L is most commonly associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) but is also present in depression, generalized anxiety disorder and psychosis. We induced TAF-L in individuals with high (High-OC, N = 23) and low (Low-OC, N = 24) levels of OC traits, and used low resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) to localise the accompanying electrical brain activity patterns. The results showed greater TAF-L in the High-OC than in the Low-OC group (p < .005), which was accompanied by significantly greater upper beta frequency (19-30 Hz) activity in the precuneus (p < .05). Further, the precuneus activity was positively correlated with self-reported magnitude of TAF-L (p < .01), suggesting a specific role of this region in this cognitive bias. Results are discussed with reference to self-referential processing and the default-mode network.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London SE14 6NW, UK ; Department of Psychology, University of Winchester, Winchester SO22 4NR, UK.
authors.forename: Rhiannon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London SE14 6NW, UK.
authors.forename: Joydeep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D058256:Brain Waves / Q000502:physiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011859:Radiography; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*; D015898:Tomography Scanners, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Default mode network; Electroencephalography; Obsessive–compulsive disorder; Precuneus; Thought–action fusion