Psychiatry Investig.  2021 Jun;18(6):545-552. 10.30773/pi.2020.0347.

Reconciliation of Two Cognitive Models in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: An fMRI Study

• Kim S
• Lee SW
• Cha H
• Kim E
• Chang Y
• Lee SJ

• KMID: 2517774
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.30773/pi.2020.0347

Abstract

Objective
Although cognitive models of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) fall into two categories: cognitive deficit models and dysfunctional belief models, these approaches have their own ways and have hardly been reconciled. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the potential relationships between cognitive deficit (using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, WCST) and dysfunctional belief (measured by scales of dysfunctional beliefs) mediated by neural activity in OCD patients.
Methods
Thirty OCD patients and 30 healthy participants performed the WCST condition and a baseline MATCH condition during the 3T-functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) acquisition.
Results
Engagement of additional frontoparietal networks with poorer performance of WCST was found during the fMRI scan in OCD patients. Selected regions of interest from activated regions have positive relationships with dysfunctional beliefs and with the unacceptable thoughts symptom dimension in the OCD group.
Conclusion
Findings suggest that alteration in frontoparietal networks related to cognitive deficits can be associated with dysfunctional beliefs while performing conventional neurocognitive tasks and this association with dysfunctional beliefs may be pronounced in the unacceptable thoughts domain-dominant OCD patients.

Keyword

Cognitive deficit, Executive function, Dysfunctional beliefs, Frontoparietal network, Obsessive-compulsive symptom domain.