ltered cingulate sub-region activation accounts for task-related dissociation in RN amplitude as a function of obsessive-compulsive symptoms

Larger error-related negativities (ERNs) have been consistently found in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients, and are thought to reflect the activities of a hyperactive cortico-striatal circuit during action monitoring. We previously observed that obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptomatic students (non-patients) have larger ERNs during errors in a response competition task, yet smaller ERNs in a reinforcement learning task. The finding of a task-specific dissociation suggests that distinct yet partially overlapping medio-frontal systems underlie the ERN in different tasks, and that OC symptoms are associated with functional differences in these systems. Here, we used EEG source localization to identify why OC symptoms are associated with hyperactive ERNs to errors yet hypoactive ERNs when selecting maladaptive actions. At rest, OC symptomatology predicted greater activity in rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) and lower activity in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). When compared to a group with low OC symptom scores, the high OC group had greater rACC reactivity during errors in the response competition task and less deactivation of dACC activity during errors in the reinforcement learning task. The degree of activation in these areas correlated with ERN amplitudes during both tasks in the high OC group, but not in the low group. Interactive anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) systems associated avoidance of maladaptive actions were intact in the high OC group, but were related to poorer performance on a third task: probabilistic reversal learning. These novel findings link both tonic and phasic activities in the alter ACC to action monitoring participants. Neuroimaging investigations have implicated a hyperactive ortico-striatal circuit in the etiology of obsessive-compulsive isorder (OCD). OCD patients are characterized by greater restng striatal dopaminergic tone and heightened ventromedial refrontal cortex (vmPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) etabolism, which often correlate with the severity of obsessive ymptomatology (Cavedini, Gorini, & Bellodi, 2006; Denys, van er Wee, Janssen, De Geus, & Westenberg, 2004; Denys, Zohar, Westenberg, 2004; Hesse et al., 2005; van der Wee et al., 004), and which resolve after successful treatment (Perani et al., 995). Presentation of stimuli that are consistent with individual Please cite this article in press as: Cavanagh, J. F. , et al. Altered cingulate amplitude as a function of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Neuropsycholo bsessive-compulsive (OC) patient concerns is associated with reater activity in striatum, vmPFC, and ACC, which often correlate ith anxiety scores (Adler et al., 2000; Chen, Xie, Han, Cui, & hang, 2004; Cottraux et al., 1996; Mataix-Cols et al., 2004; Nakao ∗ Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, 1503 niversity Ave, Tucson, AZ, USA. Tel.: +1 520 621 7086. E-mail address: jim.f.cav@gmail.com (J.F. Cavanagh). 028-3932/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. oi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia. 2010.03. 031 ations, including dissociation in performance deficits, in OC symptomatic © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. et al., 2005b; Rauch et al., 1994; Rosenberg & Keshavan, 1998) and resolve after successful treatment (Nakao et al., 2005b). The functional implications of a hyperactive cortico-striatal circuit in OCD have been examined using tasks that challenge action monitoring processes. The term action monitoring refers to the processes of error detection and conflict monitoring during goaldirected responses, processes that are strongly associated with ACC functioning (Botvinick, Braver, Barch, Carter, & Cohen, 2001). Although it is assumed that investigations of hyperactive resting metabolism and altered action monitoring may help identify the aberrant neural systems underlying the intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors that characterize OCD, there has been little emphasis on understanding how tonic (resting) and phasic (event-related) brain activities relate to each other—even within normative samples. For example, it is possible that dissociation sub-region activation accounts for task-related dissociation in ERN gia (2010), doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia. 2010.03. 031 in phasic error signals does not reflect altered action monitoring per se, but rather are reflective of differential tonic activities in the underlying neural systems. Here, we extend findings from our previous study that discovered task dissociation in neuroelectric reflections of internal error signaling in OC symptomatic