Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T04:01:39.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pick a Card, Any Card: The Relationship Between Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms and Decision-Making

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2016

Angelina Leonello  and
Mairwen K. Jones
Angelina Leonello
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Mairwen K. Jones*
Affiliation:
Discipline of Behavioural and Social Sciences in Health, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Dr Mairwen Jones, Discipline of Behavioural and Social Sciences in Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, PO Box 170, Lidcombe 1825 NSW, Australia. Email: Mairwen.Jones@sydney.edu.au
Get access

Abstract

Specific deficits in decision-making have been demonstrated in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The experience of anxious arousal in obsessive-compulsive (OC) patients has been posited to be responsible for disrupting the cognitive processes that lead to efficacious decision-making (Sachdev & Malhi, 2005). In spite of this, research has neglected to examine explicitly the effect of anxiety on the relationship between decision-making and OCD. The current study investigates whether decision-making differences on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) occur as a function of OC symptomatology in a non-clinical sample (n = 110). Participants were randomly allocated to either an anxiety condition (n = 58) or control condition (n = 52). Anxious arousal was induced in the anxiety condition via an experimental manipulation prior to commencing the IGT. Participants in the anxiety condition performed significantly worse than those in the control group on the IGT. However, OC symptomatology did not significantly predict IGT performance. The experience of anxiety did not significantly moderate the relationship between OC symptomatology and IGT performance. These findings indicate that decision-making differences do not occur as a function of OC symptomatology in a non-clinical sample; however, they do suggest that the experience of anxiety significantly impairs decision-making performance. The theoretical and practical applications of the findings are discussed.

Keywords

OCDanxietydecision-making
Type
Standard Papers
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , April 2016 , pp. 27 - 43
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.) (DSM-V). Washington D.C.: Author.Google Scholar
Bechara, A., Damasio, A.R., Damasio, H., & Anderson, S.W. (1994). Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition, 50, 7–15.Google Scholar
Beck, A.T., Steer, R.A., & Brown, G.K. (1996). Manual for Beck Depression Inventory-II. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Boisseau, C.L., Thompson-Brenner, H., Pratt, E.M., Farchione, T.J., & Barlow, D.H. (2013). The relationship between decision-making and perfectionism in obsessive-compulsive disorder and eating disorders. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 44, 316–321. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2013.01.006 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brand, M., Fujiwara, E., Borsutzky, S., Kalbe, E., Kessler, J., & Markowitsch, H.J. (2005). Decision-making deficits of Korsakoff patients in a new gambling task with explicit rules — Associations with executive functions. Neuropsychology, 19, 267–277. doi:10.1037/0894-4105.19.3.267 Google Scholar
Cavallaro, R., Cavedini, P., Mistretta, P., Bassi, T., Angelone, S.M., Ubbiali, A., & Bellodi, L. (2003). Basal-corticofrontal circuits in schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 54, 437–443. doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(02)01814-0 Google Scholar
Cavedini, P., Gorini, A., & Bellodi, L. (2006). Understanding obsessive-compulsive disorder: Focus on decision making. Neuropsychology Review, 16, 3–15. doi:10.1007/s11065-006-9001-y Google Scholar
Cavedini, P., Riboldi, G., D'Annucci, A., Belotti, P., Cisima, M., & Bellodi, L. (2002). Decision-making heterogeneity in obsessive compulsive disorder: Ventromedial prefrontal cortex function predicts different treatment outcomes. Neuropsychologia, 40, 205–211. doi:10.1016/S0028-3932(01)00077-X Google Scholar
Crino, R., Slade, T., & Andrews, G. (2005). The changing prevalence and severity of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Criteria from DSM-III to DSM-IV. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 876–882. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.162.5.876 Google Scholar
Da Rocha, F.F., Alvarenga, N.B., Malloy-Diniz, L., & Correa, H. (2011). Decision-making impairment in obsessive-compulsive disorder as measured by the Iowa Gambing Task. Arquivos de Neuro-psiquiatria, 69, 642–647. doi:10.1590/S0004-282X2011000500013 Google Scholar
Damasio, A.R. (1996). The somatic marker hypothesis and the possible functions of the prefrontal cortex. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B. Biological Sciences, 351, 1413–1420. doi:10.1098/rstb.1996.0125 Google Scholar
De Visser, L., van der Knaap, L.J., van de Loo, A.J., van der Weerd, C.M., Ohl, F., & van den Bos, R. (2010). Trait anxiety affects decision-making differently in healthy men and women: towards gender-specific endophenotypes of anxiety. Neuropsychologia, 48, 1598–1606. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.01.027 Google Scholar
Derakshan, N., & Eysenck, M.W. (2009). Anxiety, processing efficiency, and cognitive performance. European Psychologist, 14, 168–176.Google Scholar
Dittrich, W.H., & Johansen, T. (2013). Cognitive deficits of executive functions and decision-making in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Scandanavian Journal of Psychology, 54, 393–400. doi:10.1111/sjop.12066 Google Scholar
Dittrich, W.H., Johansen, T., Landro, N.I., & Fineberg, N.A. (2011). Cognitive performance and specific deficits in OCD symptom dimensions: III. Decision-making and impairments in risky choices. German Journal of Psychiatry, 14, 13–25.Google Scholar
Foa, E.B., Huppert, J.D., Leiberg, S., Langner, R., Kichic, R., Hajcak, G., & Salkovskis, P.M. (2002). The Obsessive-Complusive Inventory: Development and validation of a short version. Psychological Assessment, 14, 485–495. doi:10.1037//1040-3590.14.4.485 Google Scholar
Girden, E.R. (1992). ANOVA: Repeated measures. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Hajcak, G., Huppert, J.D., Simons, R.F., & Foa, E.B. (2004). Psychometric properties of the OCI-R in a college sample. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 115–123. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2003.08.002 Google Scholar
Johansen, T., & Dittrich, W.H. (2013). Cognitive performance in a subclinical obsessive-compulsive sample 1: Cognitive functions. Psychiatry Journal, 2013, 565191. doi:10.1155/2013/565191 Google Scholar
Lawrence, N.S., Jollant, F., O'Daly, O., Zelaya, F., & Phillips, M.L. (2009). Distinct roles of prefrontal cortical subregions in the Iowa Gambling Task. Cerebral Cortex, 19, 1134–1143. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhn154 Google Scholar
Lawrence, N.S., Wooderson, S., Mataix-Cols, D., David, R., Speckens, A., & Phillips, M.L. (2006). Decision making and set shifting impariments are associated with distinct symptom dimensions in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Neuropsychology, 20, 409–419. doi:10.1037/0894-4105.20.4.409 Google Scholar
Miu, A.C., Heilman, R.M., & Houser, D. (2008). Anxiety impairs decision-making: Psychophysiological evidence from an Iowa Gambling Task. Biological Psychology, 77, 353–358. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.11.010 Google Scholar
Muller, K.E., & Barton, C.N. (1989). Approximate power for repeated-measures ANOVA lacking sphericity. Journal of the American Statistcal Association, 84, 549–555. doi:10.2307/2289941 Google Scholar
Nielen, M.M.A., Veltman, D.J., de Jong, R., Mulder, G., & den Boer, J.A. (2002). Decision making performance in obsessive compulsive disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 69, 257–260. doi:10.1016/S0165-0327(00)00381-5 Google Scholar
Phillips, J.P., & Giancola, P.R. (2008). Experimentally induced anxiety attenuates alcohol-related aggression in men. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 16, 43–56. doi:10.1037/1064-1297.16.1.43 Google Scholar
Rogers, R.D., Everitt, B.J., Baldacchino, A., Blackshaw, A.J., Swainson, R., Wynne, K., . . . Robbins, T.W. (1999). Dissociable deficits in the decision-making cognition of chronic amphetamine abusers, opiate abusers, patients with focal damage to prefrontal cortex, and tryptophan-depleted normal volunteers: Evidence for monoaminergic mechanisms. Neuropsychopharmacology, 20, 322–339. doi:10.1016/S0893-133X(98)00091-8 Google Scholar
Sachdev, P.S., & Malhi, G.S. (2005). Obsessive–compulsive behaviour: A disorder of decision-making. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 39, 757–763. doi:10.1080/j.1440-1614.2005.01680.x Google Scholar
Spielberger, C.D., Gorsuch, R.L., Lushene, R., Vagg, P.R., & Jacobs, G.A. (1983). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Spitznagel, M.B., & Suhr, J.A. (2002). Executive function deficits associated with symptoms of schizotypy and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatry Research, 110, 151–163. doi:10.1016/S0165-1781(02)00099-9 Google Scholar
Starcke, K., Tuschen-Caffier, B., Markowitsch, H.J., & Brand, M. (2010). Dissociation of decisions in ambiguous and risky situations in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatry Research, 175, 114–120. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2008.10.022 Google Scholar
Steketee, G. (1997). Disability and family burden in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 42, 919–928.Google Scholar
Storch, E.A., Roberti, J.W., & Roth, D.A. (2004). Factor structure, concurrent validity, and internal consistency of the Beck Depression Inventory — Second Edition in a sample of college students. Depression and Anxiety, 19, 187–189. doi:10.1002/da.20002 Google Scholar
Zhu, C., Yu, F., Ye, R., Chen, X., Dong, Y., Li, D., . . . Wang, K. (2014). External error monitoring in subclinical obsessive-compulsive subjects: Electrophysiological evidence from a Gambling Task. PLoS One, 9, e90874. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0090874 Google Scholar