The Uncertainty of it All: Exploring the Cognitive Mechanisms of Repeated Checking

Abstract

Uncertainty is a driving force in multiple brain disorders, leading to repetitive thoughts and actions. Checking is a prominent behavioral response to uncertainty and is the most common compulsion in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Deficits in working memory may drive checking. While several studies attempted at examining factors that might affect checking, no study to-date has attempted to investigate whether individual differences in working memory capacity might underlie checking or uncertainty. The current study tested whether checking is associated with uncertainty and∖or working memory capacity.