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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 Bullmore
Why 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 Psychiatry

ISSN

1359-4184

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Volume

20

Page range

345-352

Department affiliated with

  • Clinical and Experimental Medicine Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2014-08-26

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