Components of inhibition in autogenous- and reactive-type obsessive-compulsive disorder: Dissociation of interference control

• We assessed components of inhibition in autogenous and reactive OCD patients.
• AOs and ROs showed similar behavioral inhibition impairments.
• Interference inhibition dysfunction appears to be limited for AOs.
• Findings strengthened insight into clinical heterogeneity of OCD.

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by unwanted, intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and/or repetitive, ritualistic behaviors (compulsions). Findings related to the two components of inhibition, namely interference control and behavioral inhibition, among OCD patients have been inconsistent. It might be that this inconsistency is due to the heterogeneity among OCD cases representing multiple subtypes of OCD, such as autogenous obsessions and reactive obsessions types (AOs vs. ROs). AOs and ROs are distinguished by the category of their most disturbing obsessions. The purpose of this study was to systematically examine whether inhibition functions differ between AO and RO patients. We assessed interference control and behavioral inhibition with the emotional Stroop task (EST) and stop-signal task (SST), respectively, in 42 AOs, 55 ROs and 62 healthy controls (HCs) and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in a random subset of these subjects (25 AOs, 25 ROs, and 31HCs). Results showed that in the EST, AOs exhibited longer reaction times (RTs) for color-naming positive-, negative-, and neutral-valence word stimulus than both ROs and HCs, and demonstrated larger P2 and less negative N450 amplitudes than HCs and larger P3 amplitudes than ROs and HCs. In the SST, both AOs and ROs showed lengthened stop signal reaction time (SSRT) and reduced Stop-P3 amplitudes in successful inhibition (SI) trials compared to the HC group. These present findings suggest that behavioral inhibition impairment may reflect a common pathology in both the autogenous- and reactive-type OCD patients, whereas interference inhibition impairment appears to be specific to patients with autogenous obsessions. These findings strengthened the insight into the clinical heterogeneity and pathophysiology of OCD.