Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is one of the most prevalent psychiatric conditions, often emerging during childhood and adolescence.Impairments in cognitive processes, including cognitive control, are often found to be critical factors in OCD.Cognitive control in OCD still needs to be further explored.One reflection of impaired cognitive control may be reduced post-conflict adaptation.We tested the hypothesis that children and adolescents with OCD would show impaired post-conflict adaptation demonstrated by congruency sequence effects when compared to healthy controls.Sixteen participants with pediatric OCD and 15 healthy controls between the ages of 11 and 19 filled out clinical measures and performed a faces Stroop task.Differences in reaction time and accuracy were examined by age, group membership, and symptomology.While no significant congruency sequence effects or differences in congruency sequence effects were found between groups, trends towards congruency sequence effects were positively correlated with age in healthy controls but not in OCD participants, suggesting altered developmental trajectories.We also suggest that postconflict adaptation may be underdeveloped in youth as measured by congruency sequence effects.These findings support the existence of differences in cognitive control, while positing that the cognitive control changes throughout healthy development but fails to do so in OCD development.
Author: Jessica A. Harper
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W103017106