September 9,
You are ready to leave your house, when suddenly: did I turn off the light in the hallway? Let’s go for a check, then a second to see if the window is properly closed. Or, you bite your nails, you sort everything … Researchers have found theorigin of these obsessive-compulsive disorders (TOC).
OCD: a culprit identified
A study published in Nature Communications offers some answers. It was French researchers from the Claude Bernard University in Lyon who looked into the question: according to them, the person responsible for these TOCs is the cingulate cortex.
This study was conducted to better understand obsessive-compulsive disorder, which American scientists are even trying to treat. But due to the lack of knowledge still in this area, trials are only 30-40% effective.
A study of macaques
French scientists have studied the behavior of several macaques. The little monkeys had a choice between two tasks. A first for visual memorization and a second for checking a gauge. The latter indicated the wait before the distribution of orange juice.
In the macaques that chose to check the gauge, the researchers found that neurons in the cingulate cortex activated before those in the prefrontal cortex. Active neural pathways are different from ” those involved in other types of decisions, such as when macaques decide to press a button to answer a question on the visual memory test », Explains a press release from INSERM.
These experiments even allowed scientists to predict at what times the monkeys were going to check the gauge, within a second. Soon, the researchers will launch a new study with a twenty volunteers to find treatments and regulate the activity of the cingulate cortex. Thus, OCD could be cured.
