Dissociable dopaminergic and pavlovian influences in goal-trackers and sign-trackers on a model of compulsive checking in OCD.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

Checking is a functional behaviour that provides information to guide behaviour. However, in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), checking may escalate to dysfunctional levels. The processes underpinning the transition from functional to dysfunctional checking are unclear but may be associated with individual differences that support the development of maladaptive behaviour. We examined one such predisposition, sign-tracking to a pavlovian conditioned stimulus, which we previously found associated with dysfunctional checking. How sign-tracking interacts with another treatment with emerging translational validity for OCD-like checking, chronic administration of the dopamine D₂ receptor agonist quinpirole, is unknown.

Objectives

We tested how functional an

SUBMITTER: Eagle DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7683452 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature