Avoidance and behavioural flexibility in obsessive compulsive disorder

Three experiments measured differences in responding between participants scoring either higher or lower on obsessive-compulsive trait measures. A Sidman avoidance procedure was employed in Experiment 1, in which participants were required to identify an avoidance response that postponed an aversive event, and noted that higher scorers maintained this response more successfully. Experiments 2 and 3 involved an operant variability procedure to differentiate between variable and rigid responding among participants demonstrating high versus low obsessive-compulsive traits, and revealed no differential sensitivity to rigid responding between the groups. The results provide insight into the nature of obsessive-compulsive behavioural traits, suggesting that avoidance but not stereotypy is primary in OCD.