Supra-second Timing and Obsessive-compulsive Tendencies

Abstract

One of the main characteristics of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is the persistent feeling of uncertainty, affecting many domains of actions and feelings. It was recently hypothesized that OCD uncertainty is related to attenuated access to internal states. As supra-seconds timing is linked to bodily and interoceptive awareness, we examined whether supra-second timing would be associated with OCD tendencies. We measured supra-second (∼9 s) and sub-second (∼450ms) timing along with control non-temporal perceptual tasks in a group of 60 university students. Supra-second timing accuracy was measured by two temporal discrimination tasks (9 vs. 9.9 s), and temporal sensitivity was measured by an adaptive Bayesian procedure that efficiently estimated the duration difference required to discriminate 9 s from longer intervals. The temporal sensitivity task involved 9 s intervals and longer intervals of varying durations that were not a-priori known to the participants. Following the task we assessed symptoms of OCD, depression, stress, and anxiety. There were no significant correlations between OCD tendencies and supra-seconds timing accuracy (discriminating 9 vs. 9.9 s intervals). However, we found a significant correlation between OCD tendencies and supra-second temporal sensitivity, a task that involves uncertainty, where higher OCD tendencies were associated with lower sensitivity to 9 s intervals; participants with higher OCD scores required longer interval difference to discriminate 9 s from longer intervals. These results remained significant even after controlling for depression, anxiety, and stress. While these results need to be substantiated in future research, they suggest that supra-second timing under uncertainty, typical to real life timing, might be adversely affected in OCD.