Data for: Explicit Instructions Facilitates Performance of OCD Participants but Impairs Performance of non-OCD Participants on a Serial Reaction Time Task

Abstract Previous studies have shown that individuals diagnosed with OCD tend to rely on explicit processing while performing implicit learning tasks. We sought to investigate whether individuals with OCD are capable of implicit learning, but would demonstrate improved performance when explicit processing strategies are enhanced. Twenty-four participants with OCD and 24 non-psychiatric control (NPC) participants performed an implicit learning task in which they responded to a single target stimulus that successively appears at one of four locations according to an underlying sequence. We manipulated the learning strategy by informing half of the participants that the target stimulus location was determined by an underlying sequence, which they should identify (intentional learning). The other half of the participants was not informed of the existence of the underlying sequence, and was expected to learn the sequence implicitly (standard learning). We predicted that OCD participants will exhibit inferior performance compared to NPC participants in the standard learning condition, and that intentional learning instructions would impair the performance of NPC participants, but enhance the performance of OCD participants. The results supported these predictions and suggest that individuals with OCD prefer controlled to automatic processing. We discuss the implications of this conclusion to our understanding of OCD.

摘要 既往研究表明，确诊为强迫症（Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, OCD）的个体在完成内隐学习（implicit learning）任务时，倾向于依赖外显加工。本研究旨在探究强迫症个体是否具备内隐学习能力，且当外显加工策略得到强化时，其作业表现是否会有所提升。本研究招募24名强迫症患者与24名精神健康对照组（non-psychiatric control, NPC）被试，让其完成一项内隐学习任务：被试需对单个目标刺激作出反应，该刺激会依据某一潜在序列依次出现在四个位置中的某一个。我们通过两种方式操控学习策略：告知一半被试，目标刺激的位置由某一潜在序列决定，且要求被试识别该序列（有意学习（intentional learning））；另一半被试则不被告知潜在序列的存在，仅通过内隐方式学习该序列（标准学习（standard learning））。我们提出两项假设：其一，在标准学习条件下，强迫症被试的作业表现将差于精神健康对照组被试；其二，有意学习指导语会损害精神健康对照组被试的表现，但会提升强迫症被试的表现。研究结果验证了上述假设，表明强迫症个体更偏好控制性加工而非自动化加工。本研究最后讨论了该结论对深化强迫症病理机制理解的启示意义。