Assigning the right credit to the wrong action: compulsivity in the general population is associated with augmented outcome-irrelevant value-based learning

Nitzan Shahar,Rani Moran,Junaid Bhatti,Christina Maurice,Sharon Neufeld,Peter Fonagy,Ashlyn Firkins,Sian Granville,Edward T Bullmore,Pasco Fearon,Hina Dadabhoy,Tobias Hauser,Harriet L Mills ,Daniel Isaacs,Kirstie Whitaker,John Suckling,Umar Toseeb,Jessica Memarzia,Ciara O’Donnell,Rafael Romero-García ,Ela Polek,Laura Villis,Elizabeth Harding,Alexandra Hopkins,Ian Goodyer,Tobias U Hauser,Kalia Cleridou,Aislinn Bowler,Cinly Ooi,Becky Inkster,Michelle St Clair,Michael Moutoussis,Sarah Birt,Jenny Scott,Cleo Mcintosh,Anne‐Laura Van Harmelen ,Emma Davies,Sam Chamberlain,Janchai King,Barry Widmer,Petra E Vértes ,Peter B Jones ,Rogier A Kievit ,Gita Prabhu,Sara Pantaleone,Danae Kokorikou,Ayesha Alrumaithi,Beatrice Kiddle,Raymond J Dolan

doi:10.1038/s41398-021-01642-x

Abstract

Compulsive behavior is enacted under a belief that a specific act controls the likelihood of an undesired future event. Compulsive behaviors are widespread in the general population despite having no causal relationship with events they aspire to influence. In the current study, we tested whether there is an increased tendency to assign value to aspects of a task that do not predict an outcome (i.e., outcome-irrelevant learning) among individuals with compulsive tendencies. We studied 514 healthy individuals who completed self-report compulsivity, anxiety, depression, and schizotypal measurements, and a well-established reinforcement-learning task (i.e., the two-step task). As expected, we found a positive relationship between compulsivity and outcome-irrelevant learning. Specifically, individuals who reported having stronger compulsive tendencies (e.g., washing, checking, grooming) also tended to assign value to response keys and stimuli locations that did not predict an outcome. Controlling for overall goal-directed abilities and the co-occurrence of anxious, depressive, or schizotypal tendencies did not impact these associations. These findings indicate that outcome-irrelevant learning processes may contribute to the expression of compulsivity in a general population setting. We highlight the need for future research on the formation of non-veridical action−outcome associations as a factor related to the occurrence and maintenance of compulsive behavior.

Highlights

To say that a reinforcement is contingent upon a response, may mean nothing more than that it follows the response
We demonstrate that a tendency to form action−outcome associations, that do not exist in the external environment, is associated with higher levels of compulsive symptoms in the general population
This means that, at some subjective level, shoulder twisting becomes associated with better bowling outcomes, and on this basis might come to be perceived as having a ‘magical’ influence on the ball’s trajectory [1, 7]

Summary

Introduction

To say that a reinforcement is contingent upon a response, may mean nothing more than that it follows the response. B.F. Skinner (1948) [1]. Compulsive, ritualistic behaviors are enacted to influence the likelihood that a certain event will occur [1]. These behaviors are seen in more than one-quarter of the general population [2, 3]. There is no causal relationship between compulsive behaviors and the likelihood of the event they aim to influence [4, 5]. In many instances, individuals have explicit knowledge that their compulsive actions are causally irrelevant [1]. A fundamental unanswered question relates to what facilitates the formation of such action−outcome associations, given they do not exist in the external environment

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