Abstract
Background and objectivesPatients with obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD) suffer from intrusive thoughts, which are assumed to be due to diminished inhibitory processes. The spatial cueing task indicates that a deficit in the inhibition of return (IOR) can be used as a marker for inhibitory deficits. MethodThe present study served to replicate previous findings with this task in OCD patients and, additionally, to control for the effects of the probability of valid cues. A supplementary experiment with phobic patients served to test the specificity of these effects. The task was performed in two versions: with equal and with unequal probability of valid and invalid cues. ResultsNo IOR was observed in the task with unequal probability of valid and invalid cues. An IOR did occur in the task with equal probability, but it was not generally diminished in OCD patients, but depended on the visual hemifield of the stimulus. IOR in patients with specific phobias was not affected. LimitationsThe negative result may be due to the relative small sample size. ConclusionsThe results do not support the notion of generally diminished inhibitory process in OCD patients, but only lateralized effects. They further indicate that a reliable IOR is only visible in a spatial cueing task with equal probability of valid and invalid cues.
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