Brain activation during implicit sequence learning in individuals with trichotillomania

Rauch, Scott L.; Wright, Christopher I.; Savage, Cary R.; Martis, Brian; McMullin, Katherine G.; Wedig, Michelle M.; Gold, Andrea L.; Keuthen, Nancy J.

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2006.09.002

« Previous Next »Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 154, Issue 3 , Pages 233-240, 15 April 2007

Brain activation during implicit sequence learning in individuals with trichotillomania

Scott L. Rauch
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Corresponding author. Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02478, USA. Tel.: +1 617 855 2201.
Christopher I. Wright
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Neurology, Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Cary R. Savage
- Hoglund Brain Imaging Center and Department of Psychiatry University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA
Brian Martis
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Katherine G. McMullin
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Michelle M. Wedig
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Andrea L. Gold
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Nancy J. Keuthen
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Received 20 July 2005; received in revised form 29 June 2006; accepted 10 September 2006.

Abstract

Trichotillomania (TTM) may be related to obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and other neuropsychiatric conditions characterized by cortico-striatal dysfunction. Functional imaging studies of OCD using an implicit learning task have found abnormalities in striatal and hippocampal activation. The current study investigated whether similar abnormalities occur in TTM. Functional MRI and the serial reaction time (SRT) task were used to assess striatal and hippocampal activation during implicit sequence learning in TTM and healthy control (HC) subjects. The results for 20 age- and education-matched participants (10 TTM, 10 HC) are reported. In comparison with HC participants, those with TTM exhibited no significant differences in implicit learning, or in activation within the striatum, hippocampus, or other brain regions. The current findings do not provide evidence for cortico-striatal dysfunction in TTM. Future studies directly comparing OCD and TTM subjects are warranted to confirm the specificity of abnormal striatal and hippocampal findings during implicit sequence learning in OCD.

Keywords: Serial reaction time, Striatum, Imaging, Obsessive–compulsive disorder