Concurrent oculomotor hyperactivity and deficient anti-saccade performance in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Previous research on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) primarily investigated inhibitory deficits related to task-interfering responses.
• Emerging evidence suggests inhibitory functions are crucial for response preparation and implementation, prompting investigation into broader inhibitory deficits in OCD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if inhibitory dysfunction in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) extends to general inhibitory functions, beyond task-interfering responses.
• To utilize multidimensional eye-movement measurements for a more comprehensive assessment of inhibitory deficits in OCD.

Main Methods:

• Thirty-one patients with OCD and 32 healthy controls (HCs) performed an anti-saccade task.
• Multidimensional eye-movement features were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and machine-learning classification.

Main Results:

• CFA identified two distinct components of inhibitory function: oculomotor hyperactivity (premature saccades, cross rates, saccade number) and oculomotor efficiency (accuracy, latency, correction rate, gain).
• OCD patients demonstrated significantly greater oculomotor hyperactivity and poorer oculomotor efficiency compared to HCs.
• Machine learning models showed that oculomotor hyperactivity features were more predictive of OCD status than oculomotor efficiency features.

Conclusions:

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by concurrent deficits in oculomotor hyperactivity and oculomotor efficiency.
• These findings suggest a common underlying inhibitory dysfunction contributing to the observed deficits in OCD.