{ "abstract": "Obsessive‑compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by an insight‑action dissociation, in which people with OCD recognize that their behavior is irrational but still struggle to inhibit habitual responses. This dissociation may be related to abnormally strong motivational biases, reflected in excessive tendencies to approach reward and avoid punishment. We employed a motivational Go/NoGo learning task, combined with computational modeling and electroencephalography (EEG), to investigate how 36 people with OCD and 37 healthy controls (HC) regulate maladaptive biases during motivated action. People with OCD showed stronger Pavlovian bias and lower learning rates. Similar to HC, people with OCD also showed increased midfrontal theta power related to conflict detection and to the generation of a control demand to increase the weighting of instrumental action values during choice, suggesting that they were able to detect the mismatch between their behavior and task goals. However, in OCD, conflict‑related theta enhancement overlapped with the response window, indicating that control signals emerged or arrived too late to effectively influence choice. Midfrontal‑motor theta phase synchrony provided the strongest model evidence for the modulation of maladaptive biases in OCD, yet this pathway showed no significant conflict‑related enhancement and failed to effectively modulate motivational biases under conflict. Taken together, these findings suggest a neural mechanism underlying the insight‑action dissociation in OCD and identify midfrontal‑motor theta phase synchrony as a potential treatment target.\n\nPeople with obsessive compulsive disorder recognize that their behavior is irrational but still struggle to inhibit habitual responses. This study shows that disrupted midfrontal-motor theta phase synchrony weakens effective control that could lead to abnormally strong motivational biases and excessive tendencies to approach reward and avoid punishment.", "abstract_shown": true, "affiliations": [ "School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China", "Department of Psychiatry, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Drug Addiction & Brain Health, Affiliated Kangning Hospital of Ningbo University (Ningbo Kangning Hospital), Ningbo, China", "School of Psychology, Key Laboratory of Brain Cognition and Emotional Health of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, and Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China", "Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States of America" ], "article_type": "Research Article", "arxiv": null, "author_total": 7, "authors": [ { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Yu Pang" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Dongsheng Zhou" }, { "affs": [ 2 ], "name": "Ziwen Peng" }, { "affs": [ 3 ], "name": "Wanting Liu" }, { "name": "Ruojie Huang" }, { "name": "Carol A. Seger" }, { "name": "Qi Chen" } ], "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4d2gd3nmwmt84.bib", "cited_by": 0, "doi": "10.1371/journal.pbio.3003979", "fulltext_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003979", "id": "4d2gd3nmwmt84", "issns": [ "1545-7885" ], "landing_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003979", "language": null, "licence": "CC-BY-4.0", "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0", "licence_source": "journal", "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "metadata_licence": null, "native_subjects": [ [ "openalex", "3203|Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Anatomy/Brain/Motor cortex" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Neuroscience/Brain mapping/Electroencephalography" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Neuroscience/Cognitive science/Cognition/Decision making" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Neuroscience/Cognitive science/Cognitive psychology/Decision making" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Neuroscience/Cognitive science/Cognitive psychology/Learning" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Neuroscience/Cognitive science/Cognitive psychology/Learning/Human learning" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Neuroscience/Cognitive science/Cognitive psychology/Motivation" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Neuroscience/Learning and memory/Learning" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Neuroscience/Learning and memory/Learning/Human learning" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Neuroscience/Neuroimaging/Electroencephalography" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Neuroscience/Neurophysiology/Brain electrophysiology/Electroencephalography" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Physiology/Electrophysiology/Neurophysiology/Brain electrophysiology/Electroencephalography" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Behavior/Motivation" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Cognitive psychology/Decision making" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Cognitive psychology/Learning" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Cognitive psychology/Learning/Human learning" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Cognitive psychology/Motivation" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Anatomy/Brain/Motor cortex" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Clinical medicine/Clinical neurophysiology/Electroencephalography" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Mental health and psychiatry/Behavioral disorders/Obsessive-compulsive disorder" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Mental health and psychiatry/Neuropsychiatric disorders/Anxiety disorders/Obsessive-compulsive disorder" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Mental health and psychiatry/Neuroses/Anxiety disorders/Obsessive-compulsive disorder" ], [ "plos", "/Physical sciences/Mathematics/Discrete mathematics/Combinatorics/Permutation" ], [ "plos", "/Research and analysis methods/Bioassays and physiological analysis/Electrophysiological techniques/Brain electrophysiology/Electroencephalography" ], [ "plos", "/Research and analysis methods/Imaging techniques/Neuroimaging/Electroencephalography" ], [ "plos", "/Social sciences/Psychology/Behavior/Motivation" ], [ "plos", "/Social sciences/Psychology/Cognitive psychology/Decision making" ], [ "plos", "/Social sciences/Psychology/Cognitive psychology/Learning" ], [ "plos", "/Social sciences/Psychology/Cognitive psychology/Learning/Human learning" ], [ "plos", "/Social sciences/Psychology/Cognitive psychology/Motivation" ] ], "openalex": "W7204938623", "pdf_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003979&type=printable", "pmcid": null, "pmid": null, "published": "2026-09-01", "publisher": "Public Library of Science", "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4d2gd3nmwmt84.ris", "sources": [ { "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:02Z", "native_id": "10.1371/journal.pbio.3003979", "source": "plos", "url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003979" } ], "subjects": [ { "field": "biology", "origin": "plos:neuroscience", "subfield": "neuroscience" } ], "title": "Impaired midfrontal‑motor theta phase synchronization characterizes maladaptive motivational behavior in people with obsessive‑compulsive disorder", "title_text": "Impaired midfrontal‑motor theta phase synchronization characterizes maladaptive motivational behavior in people with obsessive‑compulsive disorder", "type": "peer-reviewed", "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:18:02Z", "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4d2gd3nmwmt84", "venue": "PLOS Biology", "versions": [] }