Comparison of checking behavior in adults with or without checking symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder using a novel computer-based measure

  • Authors:
  • Kwanguk Kim;Daeyoung Roh;Chan-Hyung Kim;Kyung Ryeol Cha;M. Zachary Rosenthal;Sun I. Kim

  • Affiliations:
  • Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University, Republic of Korea and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, USA;Department of Psychiatry & Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Republic of Korea;Department of Psychiatry & Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Republic of Korea;Department of Psychiatry & Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Republic of Korea;Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, USA;Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University, Republic of Korea and Medical Device Development Center, Osong Medical Innovation Foundation, Chungwon-gun, Chungbuk 363-951, Republic of ...

  • Venue:
  • Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

Easy to administer behavioral measures of checking are needed to improve the assessment of this hallmark feature of OCD. We recently developed a new computer-based behavioral assessment of OCD in a previous study. As a follow-up experiment for this method, the goal of this study was to examine whether the new computer-based behavioral assessment would be capable of differentiating behaviors in adults with OCD characterized by checking behavior from those without checking behavior. We compared 22 OCD patients with compulsive checking behaviors (OCD checkers), 17 OCD controls without checking behavior (OCD controls), and 31 healthy controls (HCs) on a novel computer-based behavioral measure of checking behavior. Despite similar levels of successfully completed tasks, OCD checkers demonstrated longer duration of checking behaviors than OCD controls or HCs. Interestingly, no differences were found between OCD controls and HCs in any of the dependent variables. Our new behavioral measure offers a novel, objective, and ecologically valid measure of checking behaviors in a sample of adults with OCD.