How compulsive perseveration undermines trust in cognitive operations
Marcel van den Hout, Eliane Dek, Catharina Giele, Marieke Toffolo
Crucial features of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) include uncertainty about cognitive
operations, and perseveration. Earlier studies showed that repeated checking has the paradoxical
effect of enhancing uncertainty about memory rather than reducing it. The effect of perseveration on
uncertainty is not confined to memory and repeated checking. Comparable results were observed with
prolonged visual fixation, text repetition and «obsessive-compulsive (OC) — like reasoning». Further
experimental evidence shows that motor perseveration reduces automatic access to the meaning of
the activity. This may explain how perseveration generates uncertainty. Compulsive perseveration
may induce «semantic satiation’ by interfering with the automatic spreading of activation. Clinical
implications are discussed.
Keywords
Obsessive-compulsive disorder, perseveration, spreading of activation,
uncertainty, semantic satiation.
