OCD Brains Show Increased Activity During Complex Tasks, Study Finds
Novel research from Brown University reveals that individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) exhibit heightened brain activity in specific regions when performing cognitively demanding tasks. The findings, published in Imaging Neuroscience, could pave the way for more targeted and effective treatments for the condition.
Understanding the Brain Activity in OCD
The study, led by Hannah Doyle, a postdoctoral research associate in the lab of Theresa Desrochers, Rosenberg Family Associate Professor of Brain Science at Brown University’s Carney Institute for Brain Science, investigated the neural mechanisms underlying OCD. Researchers focused on abstract sequential behavior – the ability to follow a general sequence of steps, even if the individual actions vary. This is relevant to OCD given that symptoms often involve getting “stuck” or losing track during sequences.
Participants were asked to perform a sequential cognitive task while undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). They had to name the color or shape of objects in a specific order. While individuals with OCD performed the task as well as a control group without the disorder, MRI scans revealed significant differences in brain activity.
Key Brain Regions Involved
The brains of participants with OCD recruited more brain regions than those of the control group, particularly in areas connected to motor and cognitive task control, working memory, and object recognition. Specifically, increased activity was observed in the middle temporal gyrus – involved in working memory, semantic memory retrieval and language processing – and an area spanning part of the occipital gyrus and the temporo-occipital junction, which is involved in lower-level visual stimulus processing and object recognition. Some of these regions haven’t previously been strongly linked to OCD.
Potential for Improved Treatments
Nicole McLaughlin, an associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University and a neuropsychologist at Butler Hospital, suggests these findings could refine the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) – a non-invasive therapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for OCD since 2018. TMS uses magnetic pulses to stimulate brain regions.
“If we reposition coils during TMS treatments to be near these brain regions, we might end up seeing a greater improvement in symptoms,” McLaughlin stated.
The Importance of Real-World Tasks
Desrochers emphasized the importance of using a sequencing task that mirrors real-world cognitive demands. “A lot of tasks that are used in a clinical setting are static,” she explained. “But as humans, we interact with the world through sequences, where we organize information and make decisions. So we’re asking people to do a task where these different control systems have to interact.”
The research team is also exploring the potential of using this sequencing task as a diagnostic tool. By monitoring brain activity during the task, they hope to identify patterns that could indicate treatment effectiveness.
Study Funding
This research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH131615) and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (P20GM130452).
Source: Doyle, H., et al. (2026). Cognitive sequences in obsessive-compulsive disorder are supported by frontal cortex ramping activity. Imaging Neuroscience. DOI: 10.1162/imag.a.1084