Relationship between selective attention, cognitive flexibility, response inhibition and theory of mind functions in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between executive functions such as selective atten-tion, response inhibition and cognitive flexibility and social-cognitive and social-perceptual theory of mind (ToM) functions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients. Methods: The Demographic Information Form, Beck Anxiety Scale, Beck Depression Scale, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Stroop Test, Eyes Test, Hinting Test were applied to 48 patients with OCD diagnosis and 39 healthy subjects. The Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale was administered to the OCD group. Results: While there was no difference in selective attention and re-sponse inhibition between the groups, it was found that the OCD group performed poorly in terms of cognitive flexi-bility. Compared to groups ToM tests, The OCD group was found to score significantly lower than the control group in the Eyes Test. In the OCD group, there was no significant correlation between ToM tests and other continuous numerical variables. In the control group, there was a moderate negative correlation between the Hinting Test score and Stroop 5 duration. Conclusion: To our knowledge, our study is the second study in the literature to show that impairment in social-perceptual ToM functions that may be specific to OCD and that this condition is independent of impairment in cognitive functions. Further studies with greater samples are needed.