Research into OCD and the brain
Brain researchers (or neuroscientists) use different methods and techniques to look at the brain. Some study single genes or brain cells in a laboratory. Others study the entire, living human brain using large machines, such as MRI scanners that take pictures of the brain.
Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages. For example, animal research has allowed scientists to study how changes in specific genes might affect behaviour. Human research looking at behaviour and how the brain works has allowed scientists to study how different areas of the human brain communicate and work together to produce different behaviours and understanding. Combining methods and findings from all research fields helps us to better understand what is going on in the brain, especially in people living with conditions such as OCD. Here, we focus mostly on human research techniques as this is the expertise of the research team behind this website, and these are the techniques that people with lived experience of OCD are most likely to come across if they decide to take part in research studies.
Researching behaviour
Scientists who study how people think and behave often use tasks or specific games to investigate how the brain works. One example is the Brain Explorer app. These tasks give insight into what’s going on inside the brain and so can help researchers to understand how people make decisions in different situations. Questionnaires or interviews are also used to gather information on people’s behaviour and thinking. This gives researchers a clearer overall view of different influences that could be related to people’s individual difficulties, changes in their mental health condition, or even how they respond to different treatments. For example, with games and tasks, researchers have uncovered that people with OCD often experience high levels of uncertainty and a lack of confidence in their thoughts and actions. These findings align with common OCD symptoms, such as difficulties in making decisions-making and repetitive checking.
If you are interested in participating in research and playing such a game or completing such a questionnaire, you can download our lab’s app, Brain Explorer, and give them a try. Everyone is welcome to take part.
Looking at the brain
Over the past few decades, neuroscientists have developed different techniques that allow us to have a glimpse into how the brain works. Usually this is done with large brain scanners, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetoencephalography (MEG) or electroencephalography (EEG). All of these scanners do not use any radiation, are routinely used in hospital procedures, and are very safe.
By using all of these techniques, we are able to understand when the human brain is processing information, what and how. To understand how information is processed in the brain, researchers often ask volunteers to perform tasks, like the ones mentioned above, whilst they are in a scanner. By looking at how people solve these games or react to certain pictures or sounds, we can see which brain areas are activated differently between people with and without lived experience of OCD. This allows us to pinpoint the exact moment when and how information is processed differently, and how this leads to different perceptions and actions. For example, we can look at brain networks involved in processing uncertainty, and test if these networks show differences in activity between people living with OCD compared to people who do not have OCD. This also offers potential future targets for new treatments.
In summary, using different scientific methods, researchers look at how the brain is changed in OCD and how treatments and therapies may affect these changes, which will hopefully lead to improved future treatments. We explore more about OCD treatments and how they work in the brain in the next section.