SELECTIVE PROCESSING OF EMOTIONAL INFORMATION IN OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVEDISORDER

Three possible explanations for attentional bias effects in anxious su bjects have been formulated: the threat-relatedness hypothesis, the em otionality hypothesis and the concern-relatedness hypothesis. In order to investigate these three hypotheses, an experiment was carried out with 33 obsessive compulsive (OC) patients and 29 normal controls. Bot h groups colour-named a Stroop card with 5 word sets: neutral words an d 4 emotional word sets (a 2 x 2 matrix of words, related/unrelated to obsessive compulsive disorder and positively/negatively valenced). In line with previous studies, OC patients selectively attended to negat ive OC-related cues; this supports the threat-relatedness hypothesis. Although the set-up of the experiment was similar to the Mathews and K lug (1993, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 31, 57-62) study, no eviden ce was found for the concern-relatedness hypothesis, i.e. the OC patie nts did not show an attentional bias for positive OC-related words. Tw o possible reasons for these contradicting findings are discussed.