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The role of habit in compulsivity

Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2016 May;26(5):828-40. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2015.12.033. Epub 2015 Dec 29.

Abstract

Compulsivity has been recently characterized as a manifestation of an imbalance between the brain׳s goal-directed and habit-learning systems. Habits are perhaps the most fundamental building block of animal learning, and it is therefore unsurprising that there are multiple ways in which the development and execution of habits can be promoted/discouraged. Delineating these neurocognitive routes may be critical to understanding if and how habits contribute to the many faces of compulsivity observed across a range of psychiatric disorders. In this review, we distinguish the contribution of excessive stimulus-response habit learning from that of deficient goal-directed control over action and response inhibition, and discuss the role of stress and anxiety as likely contributors to the transition from goal-directed action to habit. To this end, behavioural, pharmacological, neurobiological and clinical evidence are synthesised and a hypothesis is formulated to capture how habits fit into a model of compulsivity as a trans-diagnostic psychiatric trait.

Keywords: Compulsivity; Goal-directed; Habit; Learning; OCD.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antipsychotic Agents / therapeutic use
  • Anxiety / drug therapy
  • Anxiety / physiopathology
  • Anxiety / psychology
  • Anxiety / therapy
  • Combined Modality Therapy
  • Compulsive Behavior / drug therapy
  • Compulsive Behavior / physiopathology*
  • Compulsive Behavior / psychology
  • Compulsive Behavior / therapy
  • Compulsive Personality Disorder / drug therapy
  • Compulsive Personality Disorder / physiopathology*
  • Compulsive Personality Disorder / psychology
  • Compulsive Personality Disorder / therapy
  • Habits*
  • Humans
  • Models, Neurological*
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / drug therapy
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / physiopathology*
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / psychology
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / therapy
  • Stress, Psychological / drug therapy
  • Stress, Psychological / physiopathology
  • Stress, Psychological / psychology
  • Stress, Psychological / therapy

Substances

  • Antipsychotic Agents