Attentional biases of vigilance and maintenance in obsessive-compulsive disorder: An eye-tracking study

Background and objectives

Attentional biases play an important role in the development and maintenance of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Previous studies using reaction time tasks in OCD have produced inconsistent results. This is the first study to measure attentional biases in patients with several subtypes of OCD using eye tracking.
Methods

Twenty-eight patients with OCD and 21 healthy controls were assessed using a free-viewing paradigm, incorporating contamination-related, checking-related, and neutral stimuli. Attentional patterns were measured using an eye tracker. A possible vigilance bias was assessed using entry time, and a possible maintenance bias was assessed using dwell time.
Results

Patients with checking-related symptoms of OCD showed a maintenance bias but no vigilance bias in regard to checking-related compared to neutral stimuli. No differences in attention were found in patients with contamination-related symptoms.
Limitations

Internal validity is restricted due to a high overlap between subgroups, the lack of negative (not OCD-related) control stimuli, and the absence of a clinical control group.
Conclusions

Patients with checking-related symptoms of OCD showed a maintenance bias to checking-related stimuli. Due to methodological limitations, the results should be considered preliminary and need to be replicated before firm conclusions can be drawn.