Why check? A meta-analysis of checking in obsessive-compulsive disorder: Threat vs. distrust of senses

Event-related potential in juvenile obsessive-compulsive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis of error- and correct-related negativity

The error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative wave observed in electroencephalography (EEG) following errors in certain neurocognitive tasks, such as the Flanker task. This wave has been found to be heightened in individuals suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in several adult studies and meta-analyses. Therefore, the ERN may serve as a relevant neurobiological marker for OCD. However, the ERN exhibits some developmental aspects. Considering this, we conducted a meta-analysis of studies examining the ERN in children and adolescents with OCD. We identified nine studies that compared ERN amplitude during a Flanker task between youth with OCD and matched controls. Our meta-analysis revealed that ERN amplitude was elevated in juvenile OCD patients compared to controls. We did not find that age, task accuracy, or sex moderated the difference between patients and controls. In conclusion, our meta-analysis confirmed that the ERN observed during the Flanker task may be a relevant biological marker for OCD in children and adolescents.

Concurrent oculomotor hyperactivity and deficient anti-saccade performance in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Existing studies mainly focused on the inhibition of the task-interfering response to understand the inhibitory deficits of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, recent studies suggested that inhibitory function is broadly involved in response preparation and implementation. It is yet unknown if the inhibition dysfunction in OCD extends beyond the task-interfering response to the general inhibitory function. Here we address this issue based on the multidimensional eye-movement measurements, which can better capture the inhibitory deficits than manual responses. Thirty-one OCD patients and 32 healthy controls (HCs) completed the anti-saccade task where multidimensional eye-movement features were developed. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) suggested two components of inhibitory function that negatively correlated with each other: one component of oculomotor hyperactivity in generating oculomotor output which is characterized with early premature saccades, early cross rates and saccade number; the other component of task-specific oculomotor efficiency which is characterized with task accuracy, saccade latency, correction rate, and amplitude gain. Importantly, OCD showed both stronger oculomotor hyperactivity and deficient oculomotor efficiency than HCs, and the machine-learning-based classifications showed that the features of oculomotor hyperactivity had higher prediction accuracy than the features of oculomotor efficiency in distinguishing OCD from HCs. Our results suggested that OCD has concurrent deficits in oculomotor hyperactivity and oculomotor efficiency, which may originate from a common inhibitory dysfunction.

Transdiagnostic Anxiety-Related Increases in Information Sampling are Associated With Altered Valuation

Excessive information sampling in psychiatric patients characterized by high trait anxiety has been inconsistently linked with alterations in inferential and valuation processes. Methodological limitations could account in part for these inconsistencies. To address this, computational models of inference and valuation were applied to data collected from a transdiagnostic sample of adults with and without an anxiety or compulsive disorder using a version of the beads task with enhanced experimental controls. Participants diagnosed with an anxiety or compulsive disorder (n = 35) and healthy controls (n = 23) completed the beads task with three majority-to-minority ratios of blue versus green beads (60:40, 75:25, 90:10). First, a Bayesian belief-updating model was fit to quantify the iterative process by which new information (bead color) and prior beliefs were integrated to influence current beliefs about jar identity. Next, a parameterized partially observable Markov decision process model was used to parse the contribution of value-based decisions to sampling behavior and included a relative subjective cost parameter, Csub , for each bead-ratio condition. Higher trait anxiety was associated with more draws-to-decision, most robustly in the 90:10 bead-ratio condition. Only relative subjective cost of sampling decisions, and not inferential differences in weighting of new or old information, satisfactorily accounted for this relation. Specifically, lower Csub(0.9) was associated with more trait anxiety and more draws-to-decision. In a condition with high objective evidence strength, transdiagnostic trait-anxiety-related increases in information sampling were explained by a cost-benefit analysis where relatively higher subjective cost was assigned to an incorrect guess, highlighting valuation as a potential treatment target for future research.

Beliefs, compulsive behavior and reduced confidence in control

OCD has been conceptualized as a disorder arising from dysfunctional beliefs, such as overestimating threats or pathological doubts. Yet, how these beliefs lead to compulsions and obsessions remains unclear. Here, we develop a computational model to examine the specific beliefs that trigger and sustain compulsive behavior in a simple symptom-provoking scenario. Our results demonstrate that a single belief disturbance-a lack of confidence in the effectiveness of one's preventive (harm-avoiding) actions-can trigger and maintain compulsions and is directly linked to compulsion severity. This distrust can further explain a number of seemingly unrelated phenomena in OCD, including the role of not-just-right feelings, the link to intolerance to uncertainty, perfectionism, and overestimation of threat, and deficits in reversal and state learning. Our simulations shed new light on which underlying beliefs drive compulsive behavior and highlight the important role of perceived ability to exert control for OCD.

Expectancy and attention bias to spiders: Dissecting anticipation and allocation processes using ERPs

The current registered report focused on the temporal dynamics of the relationship between expectancy and attention toward threat, to better understand the mechanisms underlying the prioritization of threat detection over expectancy. In the current event-related potentials experiment, a-priori expectancy was manipulated, and attention bias was measured, using a well-validated paradigm. A visual search array was presented, with one of two targets: spiders (threatening) or birds (neutral). A verbal cue stating the likelihood of encountering a target preceded the array, creating congruent and incongruent trials. Following cue presentation, preparatory processes were examined using the contingent negative variation (CNV) component. Following target presentation, two components were measured: early posterior negativity (EPN) and late positive potential (LPP), reflecting early and late stages of natural selective attention toward emotional stimuli, respectively. Behaviorally, spiders were found faster than birds, and congruency effects emerged for both targets. For the CNV, a non-significant trend of more negative amplitudes following spider cues emerged. As expected, EPN and LPP amplitudes were larger for spider targets compared to bird targets. Data-driven, exploratory, topographical analyses revealed different patterns of activation for bird cues compared to spider cues. Furthermore, 400-500 ms post-target, a congruency effect was revealed only for bird targets. Together, these results demonstrate that while expectancy for spider appearance is evident in differential neural preparation, the actual appearance of spider target overrides this expectancy effect and only in later stages of processing does the cueing effect come again into play.

From compulsivity to compulsion: the neural basis of compulsive disorders

Compulsive behaviour, an apparently irrational perseveration in often maladaptive acts, is a potential transdiagnostic symptom of several neuropsychiatric disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder and addiction, and may reflect the severe manifestation of a dimensional trait termed compulsivity. In this Review, we examine the psychological basis of compulsions and compulsivity and their underlying neural circuitry using evidence from human neuroimaging and animal models. Several main elements of this circuitry are identified, focused on fronto-striatal systems implicated in goal-directed behaviour and habits. These systems include the orbitofrontal, prefrontal, anterior cingulate and insular cortices and their connections with the basal ganglia as well as sensoriomotor and parietal cortices and cerebellum. We also consider the implications for future classification of impulsive-compulsive disorders and their treatment.

Opening new vistas on obsessive-compulsive disorder with the observing response task

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a highly prevalent and debilitating disorder, is incompletely understood in terms of underpinning behavioural, psychological, and neural mechanisms. This is attributable to high symptomatic heterogeneity; cardinal features comprise obsessions and compulsions, including clinical subcategories. While obsessive and intrusive thoughts are arguably unique to humans, dysfunctional behaviours analogous to those seen in clinical OCD have been examined in nonhuman animals. Genetic, ethological, pharmacological, and neurobehavioural approaches all contribute to understanding the emergence and persistence of compulsive behaviour. One behaviour of particular interest is maladaptive checking, whereby human patients excessively perform checking rituals despite these serving no purpose. Dysfunctional and excessive checking is the most common symptom associated with OCD and can be readily operationalised in rodents. This review considers animal models of OCD, the neural circuitries associated with impairments in habit-based and goal-directed behaviour, and how these may link to the compulsions observed in OCD. We further review the Observing Response Task (ORT), an appetitive instrumental learning procedure that distinguishes between functional and dysfunctional checking, with translational application in humans and rodents. By shedding light on the psychological and neural bases of compulsive-like checking, the ORT has potential to offer translational insights into the underlying mechanisms of OCD, in addition to being a platform for testing psychological and neurochemical treatment approaches.

Exploring the relationship between context and obsessions in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms: a narrative review

Obsessions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have long been proposed to differ from intrusive thoughts in unaffected individuals based on appraisal of the thoughts. However, more recent research indicates that cognitive processes behind obsessions may differ significantly from those in healthy individuals concerning their contextual relationship. This narrative literature review summarizes current evidence for the role of context-relatedness for obsessions in OCD and intrusive thoughts in affected and unaffected individuals. The review encompasses a total of five studies, two of which include individuals diagnosed with OCD (one study also includes a group of unaffected control individuals), while the other three studies investigate the relationship between OCD symptoms and context in unaffected individuals. As assessed by mainly self-reports, the review examines the connection between thoughts and their context, shedding light on how the repetition and automaticity of thoughts, as well as their detachment from context over time contribute to defining obsessions in contrast to intrusive thoughts. However, the link with context depends on the content of the obsessions. We propose the term "decontextualization of thoughts" to describe the phenomenon that obsessions gradually lose their connection with external context during the development of OCD. Future research should investigate whether this hypothesis can be supported by experimental evidence and identify whether this shift might be more likely a cause or a consequence of the disorder.

Excessive Checking in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Neurochemical Correlates Revealed by 7T Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Background

Compulsive checking, a common symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), has been difficult to capture experimentally. Therefore, determination of its neural basis remains challenging despite some evidence suggesting that it is linked to dysfunction of cingulostriatal systems. This study introduces a novel experimental paradigm to measure excessive checking and its neurochemical correlates.

Methods

Thirty-one patients with OCD and 29 healthy volunteers performed a decision-making task requiring them to decide whether 2 perceptually similar visual representations were the same or different under a high-uncertainty condition without feedback. Both groups underwent 7T magnetic resonance spectroscopy scans on the same day. Correlations between out-of-scanner experimental measures of checking and the glutamate/GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) ratio in the anterior cingulate cortex, supplementary motor area, and occipital cortex were assessed. Their relationship with subjective ratings of doubt, anxiety, and confidence was also investigated.

Results

Patients with OCD exhibited excessive and dysfunctional checking, which was significantly correlated with changes in the glutamate/GABA ratio within the anterior cingulate cortex. No behavioral/neurochemical relationships were evident for either the supplementary motor area or occipital cortex. The excessive checking observed in patients was negatively correlated with their confidence levels and positively related to doubt, anxiety, and compulsivity traits.

Conclusions

We conclude that experimental measures of excessive and dysfunctional checking in OCD, which have been linked to increased doubt, anxiety, and lack of confidence, are related to an imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory neural activity within the anterior cingulate cortex. This study adds to our understanding of the role of this region in OCD by providing a laboratory model of the possible development of compulsive checking.

Spider vs. guns: expectancy and attention biases to phylogenetic threat do not extend to ontogenetic threat

Introduction

Attention bias plays an important role in specific fears and phobias. Previous studies revealed that a-priori expectancies affect attention toward neutral stimuli but not threatening stimuli. The aim of the current study was to test whether this selective influence of expectancies on attention is specific to phylogenetic threat (i.e., spiders) or whether it can be generalized to ontogenetic threat (i.e., guns). Correspondingly, we directly compared expectancy effects on attentional allocation to phylogenetically vs. ontogenetically threatening stimuli.

Method

Expectancies were manipulated by presenting a cue indicating the likelihood of the appearance of a deviant picture in a visual search array. The array included eight distractors and one neutral (phone/bird) or threatening (gun/spider) deviant picture. In a comprehensive design, we examined the effects of stimulus type (phylogenetic/ontogenetic) and visual background (white and sterile/complex and ecological). Individual differences such as intolerance of uncertainty and spider fear were also measured.

Results

Results showed that attention bias toward spiders does not extend to threatening ontogenetic stimuli (i.e., guns). Our previous findings on attention bias toward spiders were replicated and a small to medium positive correlation was found between reaction time to bird targets and pre-existing fear of spider levels. Cues were used to detect threatening as well as neutral targets on both background types, except for spider targets on a complex background, replicating previous results. A small to medium positive correlation was also found between fear of spiders and intolerance of uncertainty.

Discussion

Together, these results suggest that expectancy and attentional processes may differ between ontogenetic and phylogenetic threat. Importantly, the effects of expectancy on attentional allocation depend on an interaction between the type of threat (ontogenetic/phylogenetic), visual factors, and individual differences.

Boosting Serotonin Increases Information Gathering by Reducing Subjective Cognitive Costs

Serotonin is implicated in the valuation of aversive costs, such as delay or physical effort. However, its role in governing sensitivity to cognitive effort, for example, deliberation costs during information gathering, is unclear. We show that treatment with a serotonergic antidepressant in healthy human individuals of either sex enhances a willingness to gather information when trying to maximize reward. Using computational modeling, we show this arises from a diminished sensitivity to subjective deliberation costs during the sampling process. This result is consistent with the notion that serotonin alleviates sensitivity to aversive costs in a domain-general fashion, with implications for its potential contribution to a positive impact on motivational deficits in psychiatric disorders.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Gathering information about the world is essential for successfully navigating it. However, sampling information is costly, and we need to balance between gathering too little and too much information. The neurocomputational mechanisms underlying this arbitration between a putative gain, such as reward, and the associated costs, such as allocation of cognitive resources, remain unclear. In this study, we show that week-long daily treatment with a serotonergic antidepressant enhances a willingness to gather information when trying to maximize reward. Computational modeling indicates this arises from a reduced perception of aversive costs, rendering information gathering less cognitively effortful. This finding points to a candidate mechanism by which serotonergic treatment might help alleviate motivational deficits in a range of mental illnesses.

When radical uncertainty is too much: Clinical aspects of Conviction Narrative Theory

We propose extrapolating Conviction Narrative Theory (CNT) to clinical psychology and psychiatry. We demonstrate how CNT principles may benefit assessment, therapy, and possibly even modify public health views of neuropsychiatric disorders. Our commentary focuses on hoarding disorder as a model, elaborates on discrepancies in the scientific literature and suggests how the CNT may resolve them.

Formal vs. intuitive categorization and obsessive-compulsive symptoms

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is often characterized by rigidity regarding rules and perfectionism, which suggests a formal reasoning style. However, other characterizations suggest an overreliance on internal cues for behavior termination, which suggests a more intuitive reasoning style. We examine reasoning styles in OCD by assessing categorization preferences traditionally classified to rule-based and family resemblance categorization.

METHOD

An initial study (n = 41) and an online replication (n = 85) were conducted. In both studies, groups scoring high and low on OCD symptoms were compared. Categorization preferences and confidence ratings were examined via a modification of a classic categorization task. The task was administered in three conditions: under time limits, with no time limits, and with explicit explanation of both categorization styles.

RESULTS

Aggregating results from both studies showed that obsessive-compulsive symptoms were associated with a reduced preference for rule-based categorization reflecting a tendency towards a more intuitive, non-formal reasoning style. This preference was apparent even when rules were explicitly described. Group differences regarding confidence were inconclusive.

LIMITATIONS

Generalizing results to the clinical population requires further research, and specificity to OC symptoms should be determined.

CONCLUSIONS

Challenging the expected association between OCD and rigidity and perfectionism, findings support suggestions that OCD reasoning strays from formal reasoning. This may explain some of the subjective and idiosyncratic rules adopted by individuals with OCD.

Are people with obsessive-compulsive disorder under-confident in their memory and perception? A review and meta-analysis

People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) tend to distrust their memory, perception, and other cognitive functions, and many OCD symptoms can be traced to diminished confidence in one's cognitive processes. For example, poor confidence in recall accuracy can cause doubt about one's memory and motivate repeated checking. At the same time, people with OCD also display performance deficits in a variety of cognitive tasks, so their reduced confidence must be evaluated in relation to their actual performance. To that end, we conducted an exhaustive review and meta-analysis of studies in which OCD participants and non-clinical control participants performed cognitive tasks and reported their confidence in their performance. Our search resulted in 19 studies that met criteria for inclusion in the quantitative analysis, with all studies addressing either memory or perception. We found that both performance and reported confidence were lower in OCD than in control participants. Importantly, however, confidence was more impaired than performance in participants with OCD. These findings suggest that people with OCD are less confident in their memory and perception than they should be, indicating a genuine under-confidence in this population. We discuss potential mechanisms that might account for this finding and suggest avenues for further research into under-confidence and related meta-cognitive characteristics of OCD.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Types and Social Media: Are Social Media Important and Impactful for OCD People?

Social media (SM) are the new standard for social interaction and people with OCD use such platforms like everyone else. However, the research on these individuals provides limited, sporadic, and difficult-to-generalize data outside of social-media evidence for one specific context concerning how SM is experienced by people with OCD. Our cross-sectional study involved 660 participants (71.4% females, 28.6% males) with 22% of the sample surpassing the 90° percentile threshold to be identified as high-level OCD-symptomatic individuals. Our work highlighted that roughly all OCD types are affected by social media in terms of mood and that these individuals appeared to give SM more importance than non-OCD individuals. The evidence presented, although very narrow, can be conceived as the first building blocks to encourage future research considering how individuals with OCD experience social media, since they appear to be affected more by them compared to non-OCD individuals.

Functional Connectivity within the Frontal–Striatal Network Differentiates Checkers from Washers of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric disorder with high clinical heterogeneity manifested by the presence of obsessions and/or compulsions. The classification of the symptom dimensional subtypes is helpful for further exploration of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the clinical heterogeneity of OCD. Washing and checking symptoms are the two major symptom subtypes in OCD, but the neural mechanisms of the different types of symptoms are not yet clearly understood. The purpose of this study was to compare regional and network functional alterations between washing and checking OCD based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Methods: In total, 90 subjects were included, including 15 patients in the washing group, 30 patients in the checking group, and 45 healthy controls (HCs). Regional homogeneity (ReHo) was used to compare the differences in regional spontaneous neural activity among the three groups, and local indicators were analyzed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves as imaging markers for the prediction of the clinical subtypes of OCD. Furthermore, differently activated local brain areas, as regions of interest (ROIs), were used to explore differences in altered brain functioning between washing and checking OCD symptoms based on a functional connectivity (FC) analysis. Results: Extensive abnormalities in spontaneous brain activity involving frontal, temporal, and occipital regions were observed in the patients compared to the HCs. The differences in local brain functioning between checking and washing OCD were mainly concentrated in the bilateral middle frontal gyrus, right supramarginal gyrus, right angular gyrus, and right inferior occipital gyrus. The ROC curve analysis revealed that the hyperactivation right middle frontal gyrus had a better discriminatory value for checking and washing OCD. Furthermore, the seed-based FC analysis revealed higher FC between the left medial superior frontal gyrus and right caudate nucleus compared to that in the healthy controls. Conclusions: These findings suggest that extensive local differences exist in intrinsic spontaneous activity among the checking group, washing group, and HCs. The neural basis of checking OCD may be related to dysfunction in the frontal–striatal network, which distinguishes OCD from washing OCD.

Just let me check: The role of individual differences in self-reported anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features on subjective, behavioural, and physiological indices during a checking task

Checking behaviour has been described as a form of preventative behaviour used by an individual to establish control over the environment and avoid future misfortune. However, when compulsive, checking behaviours can become disabling and distressing and have been linked to the maintenance of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Despite this, there is limited literature across the field that has assessed the impact of dimensional measures of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features (i.e., negative affect, uncertainty, and perfectionism) in driving checking behaviour. As such, the present study examined the impact of individual differences in self-reported anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features on subjective, behavioural, and physiological indices during a visual discrimination and checking task (n = 87). Higher self-reported anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features were associated with higher subjective ratings of unpleasantness and the urge to check during the task. Moreover, higher self-reported anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features related to general negative affect, uncertainty, and perfectionism were associated with greater checking frequency during the task. Lastly, stronger obsessional beliefs about perfectionism and the need for certainty were found to predict poorer accuracy, slower reaction times, and higher engagement of the corrugator supercilii during the task. In sum, these findings demonstrate how different anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features, in particular perfectionism and the need for certainty, may relate to and maintain checking behaviour in low threat contexts, which likely has implications for models of excessive and persistent checking in anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Visuospatial working memory capacity moderates the relationship between anxiety and OCD related checking behaviors

BACKGROUND

Compulsive checking behavior is the most prevalent compulsive behavior in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). While some studies have shown that anxiety and executive function influence compulsive checking behavior, the relationship between these constructs is inconclusive. Hence, we sought to explore the interplay between executive function, anxiety and compulsive checking behavior.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

47 healthy participants (HC) and 51 patients with OCD participated in the study. Symptoms and emotional states were assessed using the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Participants also completed three tests of neuropsychological functioning: the Stop Signal Task, the Spatial working memory Task, and the Wisconsin card sorting test. We analyzed the relationships between anxiety, executive function, and compulsive checking symptoms.

RESULTS

Patients with OCD showed significantly greater anxiety (p < 0.001) and impairments in visuospatial working memory function (p = 0.030) compared to HC participants, while inhibition and set-shifting were not significantly different between the two groups. Visuospatial working memory was negatively related to compulsive checking behavior (p = 0.016). Visuospatial working memory also played a moderating role in the positive relationship between anxiety and compulsive checking behavior (β = -0.281, p = 0.022).

CONCLUSION

Anxiety symptoms play an important role in explaining compulsive checking behavior in patients with OCD who have relatively weak visuospatial working memory ability. These findings provide a foundation for further research regarding the roles of emotion and cognitive inflexibility in compulsive checking behavior in patients with OCD.

Joint contributions of metacognition and self-beliefs to uncertainty-guided checking behavior

Checking behavior is a natural and adaptive strategy for resolving uncertainty in everyday situations. Here, we aimed at investigating the psychological drivers of checking and its regulation by uncertainty, in non-clinical participants and controlled experimental settings. We found that the sensitivity of participants' explicit confidence judgments to actual performance (explicit metacognition) predicted the extent to which their checking strategy was regulated by uncertainty. Yet, a more implicit measure of metacognition (derived from asking participants to opt between trials) did not contribute to the regulation of checking behavior. Meanwhile, how participants scaled on questionnaires eliciting self-beliefs such as self-confidence and self-reported obsessive-compulsive symptoms also predicted participants' uncertainty-guided checking tendencies. Altogether, these findings demonstrate that checking behavior is likely the outcome of a core explicit metacognitive process operating at the scale of single decisions, while remaining influenced by general self-beliefs. Our findings are thus consistent with two mechanisms (micro vs. macro) through which this otherwise adaptive behavior could go awry in certain psychiatric disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Momentary Induction of Inhibitory Control and Its Effects on Uncertainty

Deficient inhibitory control and difficulty resolving uncertainty are central in psychopathology. How these factors interact remains unclear. Initial evidence suggests that inducing inhibitory control improves resolution of uncertainty. This may occur only when participants overcome action tendencies, which are dominant tendencies to perform certain behaviors. Our study explored the links between inhibitory control and behavioral responses to uncertainty while manipulating action-tendencies’ strength. In three experiments, 132 undergraduates completed a task that combined induction of momentary changes in inhibitory control level (Stroop task), with responses to uncertainty (visual-search task). We manipulated action-tendencies’ strength by varying uncertainty proportions across experiments. Results indicated that momentary induction of inhibitory control improved resolution of high-uncertainty during mostly low-uncertainty trials but hampered resolution of low-uncertainty during mostly high-uncertainty trials. Identical inhibitory control induction did not affect resolution of uncertainty when uncertainty conditions were equalized. Participants’ subjective uncertainty measures were similar across experiments. Our results suggest that momentary inhibitory control induction modifies behavioral responses to uncertainty and selectively affects trials that require overcoming dominant action tendencies. These findings indicate a potentially unique and multifaceted relationship between inhibitory control and behavioral responses to uncertainty. Clinical implications for models of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and experimental implications to post-conflict processes are discussed.