The Relationship between Hoarding Symptoms, Intolerance of Uncertainty, and Error-Related Negativity

Abstract

Individuals who hoard report poor tolerance for uncertainty. They also exhibit error-monitoring abnormalities and increased activation of the anterior cingulate during possessionrelevant decision-making, potentially reflecting a contextdependent error sensitivity. Together, these underlying vulnerabilities may lead individuals who hoard to avoid uncertain acquiring and discarding decisions. The current study explored electrophysiological indices of error-monitoring (error-related negativity; ERN) in possession-related and possessionunrelated contexts, and how this related to self-reported intolerance of uncertainty (IU). Undergraduate students (N = 29) completed self-report measures of hoarding symptoms and intolerance of uncertainty, and then engaged in a Go/NoGo task and a novel Discard/NoDiscard task with concurrent EEG measurement. Regression analyses revealed that hoarding symptoms predicted ERN amplitude for possession-related errors but not possession-unrelated errors, and that this relationship was influenced by IU in possession-related contexts. These findings have theoretical implications for understanding vulnerability in hoarding.

Neurophysiological and behavioral evidence that self-uncertainty salience increases self-esteem striving

“…. The ERN is sensitive to the motivational salience of errors such that the ERN is higher in people with a heightened sensitivity to the uncertainty of errors (e.g., high intolerance of uncertainty people; Baldwin, Whitford, & Grisham, 2017;Jackson, Nelson, & Hajcak, 2016). The ERN is also enhanced when errors are made more aversive by uncertain contexts (Jackson, Nelson, & Proudfit, 2015;Speed, Jackson, Nelson, Infantolino, & Hajcak, 2017), when errors are linked to incentives (e.g., punished by gain or loss; Ganushchak & Schiller, 2008;Hajcak, Moser, Yeung, & Simons, 2005;Riesel, Weinberg, Endrass, Kathmann, & Hajcak, 2012), or when people are reminded that their performance is being evaluated by others (Hajcak et al, 2005;Kim, Iwaki, Uno, & Fujita, 2005).…”

Changes in neural activity following a randomized trial of cognitive behavioral therapy for hoarding disorder.

“…This was also seen during real decisions in HD patients, who showed exaggerated lateral OFC activity during real decisions to keep or discard possessions (Tolin et al, 2009). Amplified ERN during a “discard/nodiscard” decision has also been noted among student volunteers with high levels of hoarding symptoms (Baldwin et al, 2017). Of particular interest for the present study is the ACC, particularly the dorsal region implicated in prior studies of HD (dACC), which is associated with cognitive control abilities (Shenhav et al, 2013), such as error monitoring (Bush et al, 2000).…”