A psycholinguistic investigation of biased semantic networks in contamination-related obsessive-compulsive disorder

IF 1.7 4区医学 Q3 PSYCHIATRY

Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry Pub Date : 2025-02-24 DOI:10.1016/j.jbtep.2025.102028

Schauenburg Gesche, Moritz Steffen, Hottenrott Birgit, Miegel Franziska, Scheunemann Jakob, Jelinek Lena

{"title":"A psycholinguistic investigation of biased semantic networks in contamination-related obsessive-compulsive disorder","authors":"Schauenburg Gesche, Moritz Steffen, Hottenrott Birgit, Miegel Franziska, Scheunemann Jakob, Jelinek Lena","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2025.102028","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><div>Increasing evidence confirms the significant involvement of disgust in contamination-related obsessive-compulsive disorder (C-OCD). More insights into the role of disgust within cognitive biases in OCD may illuminate the psychopathology and corresponding subdimensions or subtypes. The present study introduces a new approach adopted from psycholinguistic research to investigate biases in word association networks in C-OCD versus other OCD symptom dimensions (nC-OCD).</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>Individuals with OCD (<em>N</em> = 70; <em>N</em> = 42 with C-OCD, <em>N</em> = 28 with nC- OCD) and healthy controls (HC; <em>N</em> = 36) were asked to produce up to five verbal associations with cue words. Written forms of the recorded associations were analyzed with word lexica providing rating norms for valence, arousal, potency, fear, and disgust. We examined bivariate correlations between OCI-R subscale “Washing” and affective variables across all participants. We investigated group differences in semantic biases in the association responses to these five variables given to standardized (three-group comparison: C-OCD vs. nC-OCD vs. HC) and individual (two-group comparison: C-OCD vs. nC-OCD) cue words.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>“Washing” and disgust showed the strongest correlation. The three-group comparison revealed more negative valence and disgust-related associations for C-OCD as compared to HC and nC-OCD. Associations generated by the C-OCD group were more pronounced in all emotion variables as compared to the nC-OCD group. <em>Limitations</em>: Rating norms did not cover all word associations, resulting in missing data. The OCD groups were unbalanced due to post-hoc allocation.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Results support the assumption of differentially biased semantic networks across the OCD spectrum, with greater negativity and disgust in C-OCD.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"88 ","pages":"Article 102028"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0005791625000126","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background and objectives

Increasing evidence confirms the significant involvement of disgust in contamination-related obsessive-compulsive disorder (C-OCD). More insights into the role of disgust within cognitive biases in OCD may illuminate the psychopathology and corresponding subdimensions or subtypes. The present study introduces a new approach adopted from psycholinguistic research to investigate biases in word association networks in C-OCD versus other OCD symptom dimensions (nC-OCD).

Method

Individuals with OCD (N = 70; N = 42 with C-OCD, N = 28 with nC- OCD) and healthy controls (HC; N = 36) were asked to produce up to five verbal associations with cue words. Written forms of the recorded associations were analyzed with word lexica providing rating norms for valence, arousal, potency, fear, and disgust. We examined bivariate correlations between OCI-R subscale “Washing” and affective variables across all participants. We investigated group differences in semantic biases in the association responses to these five variables given to standardized (three-group comparison: C-OCD vs. nC-OCD vs. HC) and individual (two-group comparison: C-OCD vs. nC-OCD) cue words.

Results

“Washing” and disgust showed the strongest correlation. The three-group comparison revealed more negative valence and disgust-related associations for C-OCD as compared to HC and nC-OCD. Associations generated by the C-OCD group were more pronounced in all emotion variables as compared to the nC-OCD group. Limitations: Rating norms did not cover all word associations, resulting in missing data. The OCD groups were unbalanced due to post-hoc allocation.

Conclusions

Results support the assumption of differentially biased semantic networks across the OCD spectrum, with greater negativity and disgust in C-OCD.

查看原文本刊更多论文

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry Multiple-

CiteScore

3.60

自引率

5.60%

发文量

期刊介绍： The publication of the book Psychotherapy by Reciprocal Inhibition (1958) by the co-founding editor of this Journal, Joseph Wolpe, marked a major change in the understanding and treatment of mental disorders. The book used principles from empirical behavioral science to explain psychopathological phenomena and the resulting explanations were critically tested and used to derive effective treatments. The second half of the 20th century saw this rigorous scientific approach come to fruition. Experimental approaches to psychopathology, in particular those used to test conditioning theories and cognitive theories, have steadily expanded, and experimental analysis of processes characterising and maintaining mental disorders have become an established research area.