Visuomotor Activation of Inhibition-Processing in Pediatric Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: A Magnetoencephalography Study

Abstract

BackgroundThe ability to inhibit a response is a component of executive control that is impaired in many individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and may contribute to clinical symptoms. This study explored whether neural processing during response inhibition, measured using magnetoencephalography (MEG), differed in a sample of medication-naïve youth with OCD, compared to typically developing controls (TDC).MethodsData was acquired from 20 medication-naïve children and youth with OCD (11.9 ± 2.1 SD years) and 14 TDC (12.3 ± 2.1 SD years). MEG was used to localize and characterize neural activity during a Go/No-Go task. Regional differences in amplitude of activity during a Go and No-Go condition between OCD versus TDC were examined.ResultsIn response to the visual cue presented during the Go condition, participants with OCD showed significantly increased amplitude of activity in the primary motor (MI) cortex compared to TDC. A trend towards decreased amplitude of activity in the orbitofrontal cortex in OCD versus TDC was also found during stop errors in the No-Go condition.ConclusionOur preliminary study in a small medication-naïve sample suggests that neural response within motor and orbitofrontal regions may be altered during Go/No-Go Task performance, and that MEG as an imaging tool may be sensitive to detecting such differences.