Modulation of hyperactive error signals in obsessive-compulsive disorder by dual-task demands

Brain correlates of performance-monitoring have been shown to be hyperactive in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), indexed by enhanced amplitudes of the error-related negativity (ERN) in the event-related potential (ERP). This hyperactivity was found to be temporally stable, independent of symptom remission, and could not be further increased by punishing committed errors. The current study examined whether the ERN in OCD is generally insensitive to modulatory influences or can be decreased by manipulation of task demands. Twenty-two OCD patients and 22 control participants performed a flanker task alone or with a concurrent n-back task to manipulate attentional resource allocation. Response-related ERP data were examined. OCD patients showed enhanced ERN-amplitudes in the standard flanker (ηp2 = .13). In both groups a significant decrease in ERN was found under dual-task conditions (ηp2 = .72) that was larger in the OCD group (ηp2 = .14), resulting in a nonsignificant ERN group difference in dual-task conditions. The current study replicated enhanced performance-monitoring in OCD as indexed by higher ERN-amplitudes. Importantly, it further showed a larger ERN-reduction with dual-task demands in patients compared to healthy participants. These results suggest that overactive performance-monitoring was normalized in patients with OCD by experimental conditions. Changing the attentional focus appears to be an effective strategy in modifying hyperactive error-signals in OCD and might be a target for innovative interventions.