Are nonclinical obsessive-compulsive symptoms associated with bias toward habits?

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2016.04.067

Psychiatry Research

Volume 241, 30 July 2016, Pages 221-223

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2016.04.067 Get rights and content

Highlights

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We examined habit learning and self-reported OC symptoms among student volunteers.
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Bias toward habits was associated with all OC symptom dimensions except hoarding.
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After controlling for negative affect, checking symptoms were associated with bias toward habits.

Abstract

In a sample of student volunteers (N=93), we found that obsessive-compulsive symptoms (although not hoarding) were associated with overreliance on stimulus-response habits at the expense of goal-directed control during instrumental responding. Only checking symptoms were associated with bias toward habits after negative affect was controlled for. Further research is warranted to examine if overreliance on habits represents an aberrant learning process that confers risk for obsessive-compulsive psychopathology.

Introduction

An influential neurobiological model of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) identifies dysfunctions in frontal-striatal circuits as critical pathophysiological underpinnings of the disorder (Burguière et al., 2015). These circuits have a significant overlap with two interacting brain systems thought to control instrumental behavior: a goal-directed system that encodes action-outcome associations (prefrontal cortex/dorsomedial striatum), and a habit system that encodes stimulus-response associations (dorsolateral striatum) (for a review see Yin and Knowlton (2006)). According to the habit hypothesis of OCD (Graybiel and Rauch, 2000, McDonald et al., 2004, Robbins et al., 2012), compulsive symptoms are caused by deficits in goal-directed learning, which lead to excessive reliance on stimulus-response habits. In support of this hypothesis, Gillan et al. (2011) found that OCD patients, compared to healthy volunteers, underutilized goal-directed action control and relied excessively on habits during instrumental responding.

Given suggestions that aberrant habit learning may represent a vulnerability to obsessive-compulsive psychopathology (Robbins et al., 2012), we examined if OC symptoms would be associated with underutilization of goal-directed action control/overreliance on habits among student volunteers. Also, given evidence for partly distinct neurobiological underpinnings of different OC symptoms (Burguière et al., 2015), we examined if a bias toward habits would be more prominent in certain symptom dimensions.

Section snippets

Participants and procedure

One hundred and five college students participated in a study session to complete a battery of questionnaires and the Fabulous Fruit Game (see below) in exchange for extra credit. Twelve (11.4%) students who were currently taking serotonergic medication were excluded because evidence indicates that reduction in central serotonin neurotransmission influences goal-directed action control in healthy volunteers (Worbe et al., 2015). In the final sample (N=93), 80 were females and 65 identified as

Results

There was a significant main effect of block in the instrumental learning stage [F(4.75, 432.46)=114.28, p<0.001] confirming that participants’ discriminative performance gradually improved with training (Fig. 1). There was no interaction between the effect of block and OCI-R or DASS-21.

Fig. 1 As would be expected, participants responded more often to stimuli related to valued outcome than stimuli related to devalued outcome, in both the slips-of-action test [87.3% vs. 34.8%; F(1, 91)=215.19, p

Discussion

The results showed that OC symptoms were associated with overreliance on habits at the expense of goal-directed control in a sample of student volunteers. These findings extend previous research documenting a bias toward habits among OCD patients (Gillan et al., 2011). However, these correlational data cannot determine the causal role of bias toward habits in OC symptoms, and longitudinal research examining aberrant habit learning as a risk factor for OCD are warranted.

It should be noted that

Conflicts of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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Cited by (27)

Characterizing habit learning in the human brain at the individual and group levels: a multi-modal MRI study
2023, NeuroImage
The dual-process theory of action control postulates that there are two competitive and complementary mechanisms that control our behavior: a goal-directed system that executes deliberate actions, explicitly aimed toward a particular outcome, and a habitual system that autonomously execute well-learned actions, typically following an encounter with a previously associated cue. In line with the dual-process theory, animal studies have provided convincing evidence for dissociable neural mechanisms, mainly manifested in cortico-striatal regions, involved in goal-directed and habitual action control. While substantial progress has been made in characterizing the neural mechanism underlying habit learning in animals, we still lack knowledge on how habits are formed and maintained in the human brain. Thus far only one study, conducted more than a decade ago by Tricomi et al. (2009), has been able to induce habitual behavior in humans via extensive training. This study also implicated the posterior putamen in the process, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, recent attempts to replicate the behavioral results of this study were not successful. This leaves the research of human habits, and particularly the research of their formation through extensive repetition, as well as their neural basis, limited and far behind the animal research in the field. This motivated us to (1) attempt to replicate the behavioral and imaging main findings of Tricomi et al., (2) identify further functional and microstructural neural modifications associated with habit formation and manifestation, and (3) investigate the relationships between functional and structural plasticity and individual differences in habit expression. To this end, in this registered report we used Tricomi et al.’s free-operant task along with multi-modal MRI methods in a well-powered sample (n=123). In this task participants’ sensitivity to outcome devaluation (an index of goal-directed/habitual action control) is tested following either short or extensive training. In contrast to our hypothesis, we were not able to demonstrate habit formation as a function of training duration nor were we able to relate any functional or microstructural plasticity in the putamen with individual habit expression. We found that a pattern of increased activations in the left head of caudate that reoccurred across each day's training was associated with goal directed behavior and that increased processing of devalued cues in low-level visual regions was indicative of goal-directed behavior. In a follow-up exploratory analysis comparing habitual and goal-directed subgroups within each experimental group, we found that elevated activations in frontoparietal regions during early stages of training, as well as increased reactivity towards still-valued cues in somatosensory and superior parietal regions, were found in individuals that were more inclined to perform goal-directed behavior (compared with more habitual individuals). Taken together, regions commonly implicated in goal-directed behavior were most predictive of individual habit expression. Finally, we also found that differential patterns of training-related microstructural plasticity, as measured with diffusion MRI, in midbrain dopaminergic regions were associated with habit expression. This work provides new insights into the neural dynamics involved in individual habit formation/expression and encourages the development and testing of new, more sensitive, procedures for experimental habit induction in humans.
Brain Functional Connectivity Correlates of Subclinical Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in Healthy Children
2021, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Commonly observed subclinical obsessive-compulsive symptoms in healthy children may predispose to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Therefore, investigating the underlying neurobiology may be relevant to identify alterations in specific brain circuits potentially accounting for clinical heterogeneity in OCD without the confounding effects of clinical samples. We analyzed the brain correlates of different obsessive-compulsive symptoms in a large group of healthy children using functional connectivity measures.
We evaluated 227 healthy children (52% girls; mean [SD] age 9.71 [0.86] years; range, 8–12.1 years). Participants underwent clinical assessment with the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory–Child Version and a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging examination. Total and symptom-specific severity were correlated with voxelwise global functional connectivity degree values. Significant clusters were then used as seeds of interest in seed-to-voxel analyses. Modulating effects of age and sex were also assessed.
Global functional connectivity of the left ventral putamen and medial dorsal thalamus correlated negatively with total obsessive-compulsive symptom severity. Seed-to-voxel analyses revealed specific negative correlations from these clusters with limbic, sensorimotor, and insular regions in association with obsessing, ordering, and doubt-checking symptoms, respectively. Hoarding symptoms were associated with negative correlations between the left medial dorsal thalamus and a widespread pattern of regions, with such associations modulated by sex and age.
Our findings concur with prevailing neurobiological models of OCD on the importance of cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical dysfunction to account for symptom severity. Notably, we showed that changes in cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical connectivity are present at subclinical stages, which may result in an increased vulnerability for OCD. Moreover, we mapped different symptom dimensions onto specific cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuit attributes.
Early-life stress is associated with a preponderance of habitual responding in a novel instrumental avoidance learning paradigm
2020, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
Citation Excerpt :
Evidence for anxiety contributing to enhanced habitual behavior in instrumental learning comes from shock-avoidance instrumental learning studies of people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD; Gillan et al., 2014; Gillan, Robbins, Sahakian, van den Heuvel, & van Wingen, 2015). After controlling for negative affect, checking symptoms—an OCD symptom—were associated with bias toward habits in non-clinical college students (Snorrason, Lee, de Wit, & Woods, 2016). The scream avoidance instrumental learning paradigm provides conflicting evidence for a link between anxiety and increased habits; in which only one of two experiments found state anxiety to be associated with increased habits (Patterson et al., 2019).
There is substantial evidence linking early-life stress (ELS) to negative health outcomes in adulthood, including addiction. However, the neurocognitive and behavioral mechanisms through which ELS increases these risks remain unclear. To address this gap in knowledge, we developed a novel instrumental learning paradigm to explore the effects of ELS on the balance of habitual versus goal-directed learning. Habits efficiently reproduce repetitive behaviors but are inflexible when reward contingencies related to those behaviors change. Persisting in performing a response after its outcome has been devalued is the hallmark of habitual behavior in instrumental learning. Participants with a history of higher ELS were significantly more likely to make habitual responses in this instrumental avoidance learning paradigm than individuals with a history of lower ELS. Logistic regression analysis showed that ELS is significantly related to habitual responding over and above the effects of retrospective socioeconomic status, trait and state anxiety, depression and recent levels of stress. Analysis of the differential impacts of the type of ELS suggested that these effects are largely driven by experiences of physical neglect.
A Test of the Habit-Goal Framework of Depressive Rumination and Its Relevance to Cognitive Reactivity
2020, Behavior Therapy
Citation Excerpt :
Statistical analyses were carried out in SPSS 24.0. For discriminative performance on the FFG, a Devaluation Sensitivity Index (DSI; see also Snorrason, Lee, de Wit, & Woods, 2016) was computed to use in correlational analyses. The DSI was constructed for the slips-of-action test (DSI-Slip) and for the base-line test (DSI-Base).
The aim of the present study was to test predictions derived from the habit-goal framework of depressive rumination and investigate its relevance to cognitive reactivity—another well-known vulnerability factor to depression. Formerly depressed (FD; n = 20) and never depressed (ND; n = 22) participants completed self-report measures of rumination, cognitive reactivity, and habitual characteristics of rumination (e.g., lack of awareness, control, intent). A standard mood-induction task was also used to measure cognitive reactivity and an outcome-devaluation task to measure general habit vs. goal-directed behavior control. Habitual characteristics of ruminative thoughts were greater in the FD group and were related to depressive brooding and cognitive reactivity, but not reflective pondering. Reliance on habit on the outcome-devaluation task was strongly correlated with number of depression episodes, although group differences were not observed in general habit vs. goal-directed control. Habitual characteristics of rumination (e.g., greater automaticity) may explain reactivity and persistence of negative thoughts in depression. Habitual behavior control may contribute to inflexible responding and vulnerability for depression episodes.
Instrumental learning in a mouse model for obsessive-compulsive disorder: Impaired habit formation in Sapap3 mutants
2020, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
Citation Excerpt :
It has been hypothesized that overreliance on habitual strategies could underlie compulsive behavior observed in several psychiatric disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), as habits and compulsions share some similarity in the composition of their tightly structured actions (Fineberg et al., 2014; Gillan et al., 2011; Gremel & Costa, 2013). So far, only a small number of studies investigated appetitive habit formation and compulsivity (Gillan et al., 2011; Snorrason, Lee, de Wit, & Woods, 2016; Voon et al., 2015). These studies, showed a link between increased habitual responding and compulsive symptoms, but are limited by practical issues (pharmacological treatment of OCD patients, non-clinical study subjects) and by uncertainty whether the appetitive tasks, originally developed in animal studies, are valid paradigms to assess habits in human patients (Ceceli & Tricomi, 2018; Foerde, 2018; Watson & de Wit, 2018).
It has been hypothesized that maladaptive habit formation contributes to compulsivity in psychiatric disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Here, we used an established animal model of OCD, Sapap3 knockout mice (SAPAP3^−/−), to investigate the balance of goal-directed and habitual behavior in compulsive individuals and if altered habit formation is associated with compulsive-like behavior.
We subjected 24 SAPAP3^−/− and 24 wildtype littermates (WT) to two different schedules of reinforcement in a within-subjects design: a random-ratio (RR) schedule to promote goal-directedness, and a random-interval (RI) schedule, known to facilitate habitual responding. SAPAP3^−/− acquired responding under both schedules, but showed lower response rates and fewer attempts to collect food pellets than WT, indicative of altered reward processing. As expected, WT were sensitive to sensory-specific satiety (outcome devaluation) following RR training, but not RI training, demonstrating schedule-specific acquisition of goal-directed and habitual responding, respectively. In contrast, SAPAP3^−/− were sensitive to outcome devaluation after both RR and RI training, suggesting decreased engagement of a habitual response strategy. No linear relation was observed between increased grooming and behavior during the outcome devaluation test in SAPAP3^−/−.
Together, our findings demonstrate altered reward processing and impaired habit learning in SAPAP3^−/−. We report a diminished propensity to form habits in these mice, which albeit inconsistent with the predominant idea of excessive habit formation in OCD, nonetheless points at dysregulation of behavioral automation in the context of compulsivity. Thus, the habit hypothesis of compulsivity should be updated to state that an imbalance of habitual and goal-directed responding in either direction can contribute to the development of compulsive behavior.
Does cognitive-behavioral therapy affect goal-directed planning in obsessive-compulsive disorder?
2019, Psychiatry Research
Cross-sectional studies have reported failures in goal-directed planning in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It remains unclear whether these deficits confer vulnerability to developing OCD, or are a consequence of symptoms. The present study examined goal-directed learning before and after cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), using treatment as a tool to reduce symptoms. Eighteen adult OCD patients undergoing 17 sessions of CBT completed an established task of model-based (i.e., goal directed) versus model-free planning as well as measures of OCD and depression before and after treatment. We thus tested whether improvements in goal-directed performance accompany improvements in OCD symptoms or if instead task performance remains stable despite symptom improvement. Results showed prior to treatment, higher OCD severity was associated with greater deficits in model-based planning. OCD severity scores significantly improved from pre- to post-treatment. Inconsistent with the state-view, OCD symptom improvement was not accompanied by improvements in model-based performance. At post-treatment, OCD severity scores were no longer correlated with model-based performance. Together, these data suggest that reducing OCD symptoms with CBT does not affect goal-directed planning. This supports a trait model of the relationship between goal-directed planning and OCD symptoms, such that problems in goal-directed planning may be an OCD risk factor.

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Short communicationAre nonclinical obsessive-compulsive symptoms associated with bias toward habits?

Highlights

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Participants and procedure

Results

Discussion

Conflicts of interest

Curr. Opin. Neurobiol.

Neuron

J. Anxiety Disord.

Neurobiol. Learn. Mem.

Trends Cogn. Sci.

Behav. Brain Res.

Eur. Neuropsychophrmacol.

Psychometric Properties of the 42-item and 21-item versions of the depression anxiety stress scales in clinical groups and a community sample

Psychol. Assess.

Short communication
Are nonclinical obsessive-compulsive symptoms associated with bias toward habits?