Checking and washing rituals are reflected in altered cortical thickness in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

There is growing evidence for structural brain alterations in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The overall picture is however rather heterogeneous. To detect meaningful associations between clinical symptom profiles and structural alterations, we applied a classification approach, the k-means cluster analysis on clinical data, i.

Altered reward-related effective connectivity in obsessive-compulsive disorder: an fMRI study.

Background: Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by anxiety-provoking, obsessive thoughts. Patients usually react to these thoughts with repetitive behaviours that reduce anxiety and are perceived as rewarding. Hence, reward plays a major role in the psychopathology of OCD.

Network-based decoupling of local gyrification in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Gyrification is associated with cortical maturation and closely linked to neurodevelopmental processes. Obsessive-compulsive disorder has previously been associated with neurodevelopmental risk factors. Using graph theoretical modeling we examined structural covariance patterns to assess potential disruptions in processes associated with neurodevelopment in OCD.

Association between hippocampus volume and symptom profiles in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: The hippocampus has recently been identified to play a key role in the pathophysiology of adult obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Surprisingly, there is only limited evidence regarding the potential relationships with symptom dimensions. Due to the heterogeneity of symptoms in OCD, we aimed at further examining, whether hippocampal volume differences might be related to symptom profiles instead of single symptom dimensions.

Structural alterations in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder: a surface-based analysis of cortical volume, surface area and thickness.

Background: Mounting evidence indicates the presence of structural brain alterations in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Findings are, however, rather heterogeneous, which may be partly because of differences in methodological approaches or clinical sample characteristics. The aim of the present study was to analyze the whole brain cortical volume, surface area and thickness in a large sample of patients with OCD compared with age- and sex-matched healthy controls.

Functional and structural connectivity of the amygdala in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: The amygdala is known to be involved in anxiety processing, but its role in the psychopathology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is still unclear.

Aims: In this MRI study we investigated potential alterations in structural and functional connectivity of the amygdala in 42 adult patients with OCD and 37 healthy subjects.

Method: Psychophysiological interaction analysis was used to explore amygdala functional connectivity during a negative affective task.

Extensive learning is associated with gray matter changes in the right hippocampus.

Longitudinal voxel-based morphometry studies have demonstrated increases in gray matter volume in hippocampal areas following extensive cognitive learning. Moreover, there is increasing evidence for the relevance of the subiculum in the context of learning and memory. Using longitudinal FreeSurfer analyses and hippocampus subfield segmentation the present study investigated the effects of 14weeks of intensive learning on hippocampal and subicular gray matter volume in a sample of medical students compared to control subjects not engaged in any cognitive learning activities.

Functional connectivity and grey matter volume of the striatum in schizophrenia.

Background: Alterations in the dopaminergic reward system, predominantly the striatum, constitute core characteristics of schizophrenia.

Aims: Functional connectivity of the dorsal striatum during reward-related trial-and-error learning was investigated in 17 people with schizophrenia and 18 healthy volunteers and related to striatal grey matter volume and psychopathology.

Method: We used voxel-based morphometry and psychophysiological interaction to examine striatal volume and connectivity.