File(s) not publicly available
Disorders of compulsivity: a common bias towards learning habits
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 18:08 authored by V Voon, K Derbyshire, C Rück, M A Irvine, Y Worbe, J Enander, L R N Schreiber, C Gillan, N A Fineberg, B J Sahakian, T W Robbins, Neil Harrison, J Wood, N D Daw, P Dayan, J E Grant, E T BullmoreWhy do we repeat choices that we know are bad for us? Decision making is characterized by the parallel engagement of two distinct systems, goal-directed and habitual, thought to arise from two computational learning mechanisms, model-based and model-free. The habitual system is a candidate source of pathological fixedness. Using a decision task that measures the contribution to learning of either mechanism, we show a bias towards model-free (habit) acquisition in disorders involving both natural (binge eating) and artificial (methamphetamine) rewards, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. This favoring of model-free learning may underlie the repetitive behaviors that ultimately dominate in these disorders. Further, we show that the habit formation bias is associated with lower gray matter volumes in caudate and medial orbitofrontal cortex. Our findings suggest that the dysfunction in a common neurocomputational mechanism may underlie diverse disorders involving compulsion.Molecular Psychiatry advance online publication, 20 May 2014; doi:10.1038/mp.2014.44.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Molecular PsychiatryISSN
1359-4184Publisher
Nature Publishing GroupExternal DOI
Volume
20Page range
345-352Department affiliated with
- Clinical and Experimental Medicine Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes