Abstract
The present study examined whether patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) focus on details at the expense of global aspects. A recent study of our group using Navon letters (e.g., the letter "S" composed out of "A" letters) did not yield differences between OCD patients and controls on local processing. However, the task used may have lacked sensitivity, because it did not involve a response conflict condition (i.e., global and local level associated with different responses). In the current study, we gradually varied between-level conflict. Twenty-eight OCD patients and 30 healthy controls had to attend to the global and the local level of each item. OCD patients displayed comparable performance: patients neither displayed a preference to respond to the local level nor enhanced interference from the local level. In conclusion, the present study does not support the idea that a generalized bias to "miss the forest for the trees" forms part of the vulnerability to OCD.
References
Nov 1, 1989·Archives of General Psychiatry·W K GoodmanD S Charney
Nov 1, 1989·Archives of General Psychiatry·W K GoodmanD S Charney
Sep 1, 1989·Perception & Psychophysics·G W McConkieA M Jacobs
Sep 1, 1989·Perception & Psychophysics·M R Lamb, L C Robertson
Apr 15, 1999·Biological Psychiatry·C R SavageM A Jenike
Apr 3, 2002·Psychiatry Research·Steffen MoritzIver Hand
Sep 19, 2003·Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology·David Mataix-ColsJulio Vallejo
Oct 28, 2004·Neuropsychology·M S ShinJ S Kwon
Feb 3, 2005·Psychological Science·Iftah YovelSusan Mineka
Feb 9, 2005·Psychiatry Research·Rafael PenadésCristóbal Gastó
Jun 21, 2005·Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology·Antje BohneSabine Wilhelm
Jul 12, 2005·The British Journal of Clinical Psychology·Steffen Moritz, Todd S Woodward
Sep 27, 2005·Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology·Steffen MoritzIver Hand
Mar 31, 2006·Cognitive Neuropsychiatry·Steffen MoritzIver Hand
Sep 20, 2006·Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS·Steffen Moritz, Mike Wendt
Nov 7, 2006·Developmental Neuropsychology·Melanie A Porter, Max Coltheart