title: The role of habit in compulsivity.
abstract: Compulsivity has been recently characterized as a manifestation of an imbalance between the brain׳s goal-directed and habit-learning systems. Habits are perhaps the most fundamental building block of animal learning, and it is therefore unsurprising that there are multiple ways in which the development and execution of habits can be promoted/discouraged. Delineating these neurocognitive routes may be critical to understanding if and how habits contribute to the many faces of compulsivity observed across a range of psychiatric disorders. In this review, we distinguish the contribution of excessive stimulus-response habit learning from that of deficient goal-directed control over action and response inhibition, and discuss the role of stress and anxiety as likely contributors to the transition from goal-directed action to habit. To this end, behavioural, pharmacological, neurobiological and clinical evidence are synthesised and a hypothesis is formulated to capture how habits fit into a model of compulsivity as a trans-diagnostic psychiatric trait.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom. Electronic address: claire.gillan@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Claire M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Gillan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Trevor W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Robbins
authors.affiliation: Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Barbara J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Sahakian
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; The OCD Team, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Odile A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: van den Heuvel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van Wingen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001007:Anxiety / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003192:Compulsive Behavior / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D003193:Compulsive Personality Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D006184:Habits; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents
keywords: Compulsivity; Goal-directed; Habit; Learning; OCD