Error-related brain activity dissociates hoarding disorder from obsessive-compulsive disorder

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is linked to heightened error-related negativity (ERN).
• It remains unclear if hoarding disorder (HD) shares similar neurophysiological abnormalities in error monitoring.
• This study investigates error monitoring mechanisms in HD compared to OCD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if neurophysiological mechanisms of error monitoring are compromised in hoarding disorder (HD).
• To compare error monitoring in individuals with HD, OCD, both, and healthy controls (HC).

Main Methods:

• A visual flanker task was employed to assess ERN in response to performance errors.
• Participants included 14 individuals with HD, 27 with OCD, 10 with HD+OCD, and 45 HC.
• Analyses of variance and pairwise comparisons examined age-corrected performance and ERN amplitudes.

Main Results:

• ERN amplitudes were attenuated in individuals with HD compared to non-HD subjects.
• A significant group by age interaction was found: ERN deficits were more pronounced in younger HD participants.
• No significant age-related ERN changes were observed in OCD and HC groups.

Conclusions:

• Reduced ERN in HD suggests it is neurobiologically distinct from OCD.
• Deficient error monitoring may be a core pathophysiological feature of HD.
• The prominent effect in younger HD participants indicates error monitoring deficits are strongest early in the illness course.