Examining the Link Between Hoarding Symptoms and Cognitive Flexibility Deficits

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Hoarding disorder is characterized by difficulty discarding possessions and clutter.
• Executive functioning deficits, including impaired cognitive flexibility, are implicated in hoarding symptoms.
• Cognitive flexibility involves inhibiting irrelevant information and shifting mental sets.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate cognitive flexibility deficits in individuals with hoarding symptoms using eye-tracking technology.
• To determine if cognitive inflexibility in hoarding is context-dependent or global.

Main Methods:

• Sixty-nine participants with high and low hoarding symptoms completed an auditory cue categorization task.
• Eye-tracking technology monitored initial orientation and viewing time for distractors (hoarding, nature, blank).
• Behavioral data (reaction time, accuracy) were also collected.

Main Results:

• High hoarding participants demonstrated significantly greater cognitive inflexibility compared to low hoarding participants.
• No context-dependent deficits were observed; performance did not differ based on distractor type.
• Eye-tracking and behavioral data consistently indicated impaired cognitive flexibility.

Conclusions:

• Hoarding disorder is associated with a pervasive, global deficit in cognitive flexibility.
• Individuals with hoarding may have difficulty disengaging from stimuli and maintaining task focus.
• Findings suggest a broad impairment in attentional control, irrespective of distractor relevance.