(PS7-D82) The Relationship Between Error-monitoring and Discrete Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is defined by heterogenous obsessions and compulsions. Research (e.g., Lei et al. 2015) shows individuals with OCD have inherent cognitive deficits contributing to symptom severity. Various obsessive compulsive related disorders have shown inhibitory deficits which characterize this group of disorders (e.g., Abramowitz & Jacoby, 2015). Error-monitoring (ERM) is an adaptive form of cognitive slowing to correct erroneous behavior. Using ERM to measure inhibition deficits in OCD is underdeveloped, however, research has shown hyperactive ERM’s association with compulsive behavior (Berlin & Lee, 2018). Most research concentrates on broad OCD related constructs such as symptom severity. Our study sought to understand the relationship between OCD symptom subtypes, comorbid symptoms, and ERM indices. Among diverse symptom presentations, obsessing is more likely to align with cognitive deficits underlying OCD, compared to overt rituals. Thus, we hypothesized obsessing would predict ERM deficits, while controlling for other relevant symptoms.

44 participants diagnosed with OCD participating in a larger treatment study completed the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ; Meyer et al., 1999), Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS; Rush 2003), and the Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R; Foa et al., 2002) to measure anxiety, depression, and OCD symptoms. The OCI-R has 6 symptom subtypes: checking, hoarding, neutralizing, obsessing, ordering, and washing. We used the stop signal task (SST; Verbruggen & Logan, 2008) to measure ERM deficits. Participants respond to a right or left arrow (go signal) through keystrokes, but inhibit responses after presentation of a delayed stop signal on identical trials (stop trial). Each trial measures participant response time (RT) after go signal presentation. ERM was calculated by averaging go trial RT following successful (SSrt) and unsuccessful stop trials (USrt) and computing the difference between SSrt and SUrt. Increased slow down on SE compared to SS defines participant hyper error monitoring after failing to inhibit a response.

To analyze whether OCD subtypes or other emotional symptoms would predict ERM deficits, we entered each OCI-R subtype, PSWQ total scores, and QIDS total scores into a multiple linear regression with ERM as the dependent variable. The overall regression was statistically significant (R² = .419, F(8,36)=3.24, p = .007). PSWQ total (β=-2.4, p =.049), neutralizing (β= 7.4, p =.049), and obsessing (β=8.7, p =.025) were significant predictors of ERM. However, results showed only neutralizing and obsessing OCD symptoms predicted ERM hyper-monitoring while PSWQ showed an opposite trend. All other predictors were non-significant (p >.138).

Our study showed neutralizing and obsessing symptoms as predictive of ERM deficits. Neutralizing assesses compulsions to count and magical relations to numbers while obsessing measures difficulty controlling and aversion to unpleasant thoughts. Both symptoms align with increasing cognitive load with obsessing on error and need for precision. ERM's association with obsessing could signify reduced ability to ignore obsessional thought due to cognitive load.