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Poster Session C: Friday, August 15, 2:00 – 5:00 pm, de Brug & E‑Hall

Frontostriatal dynamics modelling obsessions and compulsions

Sebastien Naze¹, James Roberts, Luca Cocchi²; ¹QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, ²University of Queensland

Presenter: Sebastien Naze

The frontostriatal system support several processes related to attention, habits, emotional regulation and goal directed behaviours. Preclinical and clinical work suggests that obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) maps onto a functional imbalance in the ventral and dorsal frontostriatal circuits. However, the neural mechanisms supporting these dysregulations remain elusive, their association with symptom severity is unclear, and therapeutic interventions are limited. We here combined neuroimaging and behavioural data from individuals with OCD and controls with computational modelling. We found that bidirectionally decreasing neural coupling in the ventromedial circuit while concurrently increasing dorsolateral cortico-striatal coupling delivered the highest functional improvements in OCD. The analysis of longitudinal changes in obsessions and compulsions with respect to modelled neural interventions supported our predictions. This study highlights behaviourally meaningful neural mechanisms hidden from traditional neuroimaging analysis to better understand the neural basis of OCD and provide new therapeutic targets for obsessions and compulsions.

Topic Area: Reward, Value & Social Decision Making

Extended Abstract: Full Text PDF