Is Performance on the Go/Nogo Task Related to Not Just Right Experiences in Patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?

Patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) generally show difficulties in suppressing obsessions and compulsions. Evidence suggests deficits in motor inhibition ability in OCD patients but studies using Go/Nogo paradigms show mixed results. Not just right experiences (NJREs) have been proposed to be involved in difficulties terminating compulsions. This study assesses the relationship between NJREs and Go/Nogo performance among OCD patients. Twenty-two OCD patients and 22 healthy controls matched on age, gender and education completed a battery of self-report questionnaires and a Go/Nogo task. An association was found between higher NJRE severity and slower reaction times. There was no association between OCD severity and Go/Nogo performance. OCD patients made more commission errors than healthy controls, but there were no differences on omission errors and reaction times for Go and Nogo trials. The current study supports a possible role of NJREs in the slowness characterizing OCD performance and appears promising from both theoretical and empirical perspectives.