Cited by 53Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum DisordersNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

Reward-based spatial learning in unmedicated adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder

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Marsh, Rachel, Tau, Gregory Z., Wang, Zhishun, Huo, Yuankai, Liu, Ge, Hao, Xuejun, Packard, Mark G., Peterson, Bradley S. +1 more·2015·American Journal of Psychiatry

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The authors assessed the functioning of mesolimbic and striatal areas involved in reward-based spatial learning in unmedicated adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). METHOD: Functional MRI blood-oxygen-level-dependent response was compared in 33 unmedicated adults with OCD and 33 healthy, age-matched comparison subjects during a reward-based learning task that required learning to use extramaze cues to navigate a virtual eight-arm radial maze to find hidden rewards. The groups were compared in their patterns of brain activation associated with reward-based spatial learning versus a control condition in which rewards were unexpected because they were allotted pseudorandomly to experimentally prevent learning. RESULTS: Both groups learned to navigate the maze to find hidden rewards, but group differences in neural activity during navigation and reward processing were detected in mesolimbic and striatal areas. During navigation, the OCD group, unlike the healthy comparison group, exhibited activation in the left posterior hippocampus. Unlike healthy subjects, participants in the OCD group did not show activation in the left ventral putamen and amygdala when anticipating rewards or in the left hippocampus, amygdala, and ventral putamen when receiving unexpected rewards (control condition). Signal in these regions decreased relative to baseline during unexpected reward receipt among those in the OCD group, and the degree of activation was inversely associated with doubt/checking symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Participants in the OCD group displayed abnormal recruitment of mesolimbic and ventral striatal circuitry during reward-based spatial learning. Whereas healthy comparison subjects exhibited activation in this circuitry in response to the violation of reward expectations, unmedicated OCD participants did not and instead over-relied on the posterior hippocampus during learning. Thus, dopaminergic innervation of reward circuitry may be altered, and future study of anterior/posterior hippocampal dysfunction in OCD is warranted.

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Authors
Marsh, R., Tau, G. Z., Wang, Z., Huo, Y., Liu, G., Hao, X., Packard, M. G., Peterson, B. S., & Simpson, H. B.
Affiliations
New York State Psychiatric Institute (US)
Venue
American Journal of Psychiatry
Published
2015-04-01
Volume
172
Issue
4
Pages
383-392
ISSN
  • 0002-953X (ISSN-L)
  • 1535-7228
OpenAlex
W2148460095
Cited by
53
References
43
Citations by year
2025: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4
FWCI
5.11
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • American Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (5k02mh074677-05)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (K02 MH-74677, K24MH091555, K01MH077652, R21MH093889, K02-MH-074677)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
Keywords
obsessive-compulsive disorder, mesolimbic reward circuitry, ventral striatum, posterior hippocampus, ventral putamen, amygdala, dopaminergic dysfunction
MeSH terms
Adult, Amygdala, Brain, Brain Mapping, Cues, Female, Hippocampus, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Putamen, Reward, Case-Control Studies, Neostriatum, Young Adult, Functional Neuroimaging, Spatial Learning

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