Dissociable EEG microstate signatures of cognitive and response inhibition deficits in obsessive-compulsive disorder patients.

Abstract

Background: Inhibitory control deficits represent a core cognitive feature in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), yet their neurophysiological mechanisms remain unclear. Electroencephalogram (EEG) microstates offer a novel framework for investigating large-scale brain network dynamics in psychiatric disorders. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate EEG microstate dynamics in OCD patients and their relationships with cognitive and response inhibition.

Methods: A total of 91 OCD patients and 76 healthy controls were recruited. Participants completed an Emotional Stroop Task (EST) and a stop-signal task (SST). Resting-state EEG was recorded, and microstate parameters and transition probabilities were analyzed. Correlations between microstate parameters and inhibitory control performance were assessed.

Results: OCD patients exhibited significant deficits in both response inhibition and cognitive inhibition, with both types of deficits positively correlated with obsessive symptom severity. Microstate analysis revealed increased mean duration and time coverage of microstate A, but decreased mean duration, occurrence, and coverage of microstate C in OCD patients. Additionally, transition probabilities from microstates B and D to C were significantly elevated. Notably, the mean duration of microstate C was positively correlated with stop-signal reaction time (SSRT), while the occurrence of microstates C and D and the time coverage of microstate D were negatively correlated with the Stroop effect.

Conclusions: These findings reveal dissociable microstate mechanisms associated with distinct inhibitory dysfunction domains in OCD patients. Resting-state microstate dynamics may represent candidate neurobiological markers for cognitive subtype classification in OCD and may help inform the development of targeted therapeutic interventions.