Difficulty inhibiting irrelevant information may play a central role in the aetiology of obsessive–
compulsive disorder (OCD). The aim of the present study was to determine whether OCD
subjects (n= 20) exhibit deficits in behavioural and cognitive inhibition compared with a
clinical control group diagnosed with panic disorder (n= 20). All subjects were administered
a Go/Nogo task (a measure of behavioural inhibition) and a Stroop test (a measure of
cognitive inhibition). OCD subjects made more commission errors on the Go/Nogo task, and …

Abnormalities in the orbital prefrontal cortex and its ventral striatal target fields are believed
to be involved in causing obsessive and compulsive symptoms. Lesions to this brain circuitry
result in a selective disturbance in suppressing responses to irrelevant stimuli. This
disturbance might underlie the apparent inhibitory deficit suggested by the symptomatology
of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Oculomotor tests were administered to 12
medication-free, nondepressed patients with OCD aged 18 to 44 y and 12 matched healthy …