Work

Response-inhibition deficits in obsessive-compulsive disorder: an indicator of dysfunction in frontostriatal circuits.

Year: 1997

Type: article

Abstract: Abnormalities in the orbital prefrontal cortex and its ventral striatal target fields are believed to be involved in causing obsessive and compulsive symptoms. Lesions to this brain circuitry result in a selective disturbance in suppressing responses to irrelevant stimuli. This disturbance might underlie the apparent inhibitory deficit suggested by the symptomatology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Oculomotor tests were administered to 12 medication-free, nondepressed patients with OCD aged 18 to 44 y and 12 matched healthy controls to assess the ability to suppress responses and to execute delayed responses volitionally. Patients with OCD had more response-suppression failures than controls when peripheral visual targets were presented close to central fixation. No significant case-control differences were observed on the delayed-response task. A basic disturbance of neurobehavioral inhibition in OCD may underlie the repetitive behavior that characterizes the illness and be related to abnormalities in orbital prefrontal ventral striatal circuits.

Source: PubMed Central

Authors: D R Rosenberg, E L Dick, K M O'Hearn, J A Sweeney

Institution: Wayne State University

Language: English

Topic: Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders

Subfield: Clinical Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute of Mental Health

Awards: OCULOMOTOR STUDIES IN SCHIZOPHRENIA, Cortical Circuitry and Cognition in Schizophrenia