Reinforcement and punishment learning helpful in explaining OCD: Study
Written By : Isra Zaman
Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli
Published On 2022-08-31 04:15 GMT | Update On 2022-08-31 11:41 GMT
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Scientists have shown that uneven reinforcement and punishment learning can be used to explain obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). They demonstrated that disparities in brain calculations that relate present outcomes to prior actions can result in disordered behavior based on empirical tests of their theoretical model.
Specifically, this can happen when the memory trace signal for past actions decays differently for good and bad outcomes. In this case, "good" means the result was better than expected, and "bad" means that it was worse than expected. This work helps to explain how OCD develops.
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