Altered Error Monitoring and Decreased Flanker Task Accuracy in Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Gregory Hanna1, Yanni Liu1, Lauren Rentschler1

  • 1University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Research Square
|February 27, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) involves impaired error monitoring. OCD cases showed increased error-related negativity (ERN) but reduced accuracy and a smaller difference between error positivity and correct positivity (ΔPe), suggesting response uncertainty.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychiatry
  • Cognitive Psychology

Background:

  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is linked to potential biomarkers in brain activity, specifically error monitoring.
  • The error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe) are event-related potential components reflecting error processing.

Approach:

  • This study investigated ERN, Pe, flanker task accuracy, and clinical measures in 105 OCD cases and 105 healthy controls (HC) aged 8–18.
  • A subgroup of 21 OCD cases had a history of tic disorders.

Key Points:

  • Higher accuracy correlated with increased ERN and ΔPe across all participants.
  • OCD cases exhibited increased ERN but decreased accuracy and ΔPe compared to HC.
  • These differences persisted in tic-related and non-tic-related OCD subgroups.

Conclusions:

  • Findings support the hypothesis of impaired error monitoring in OCD.
  • A reduced ΔPe in OCD may indicate compromised error signaling and response uncertainty.
  • Lower ΔPe was associated with earlier OCD symptom onset.

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