Imminent danger? Probabilistic classification learning of threat-related information in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
A tendency to overestimate threat has been shown in individuals with OCD. We tested the hypothesis that this bias in judgment is related to difficulties in learning probabilistic associations between events. Thirty participants with OCD and 30 matched healthy controls completed a learning experiment involving 2 variants of a probabilistic classification learning task. In the neutral weather-prediction task, rainy and sunny weather had to be predicted. In the emotional task danger of an epidemic from virus infection had to be predicted (epidemic-prediction task). Participants with OCD were as able as controls to improve their prediction of neutral events across learning trials but scored significantly below healthy controls on the epidemic-prediction task. Lower performance on the emotional task variant was significantly related to a heightened tendency to overestimate threat. Biased information processing in OCD might thus hamper corrective experiences regarding the probability of threatening events.
University of Marburg and University of Leipzig. Electronic address: exnerc@uni-leipzig.de.
Cornelia
C
Exner
University of Marburg.
Ulrike
U
Zetsche
University of Marburg.
Tania M
TM
Lincoln
University of Marburg.
Winfried
W
Rief
D001245:Association Learning; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D055815:Young Adult
implicit learning; obsessive-compulsive disorder; overestimation of threat; probabilistic classification learning