The effect of task difficulty on decision-making: Differences between obsessive–compulsive disorder and non-affective psychosis. Issue 3 (1st August 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Serrano-Guerrero, Estrella; Rodríguez-Testal, Juan Francisco; Martín-Rodríguez, Agustín; Ruiz-Veguilla, Miguel
• Is Part Of: Journal of experimental psychopathology. Volume 9:Issue 3(2018)
• Publication Date: 2018-08-01
• Subjects: Decision-making -- jumping to conclusions -- non-affective psychosis -- obsessive–compulsive disorder -- task difficulty; Psychology, Pathological -- Periodicals; 616.89
• DOI: 10.1177/2043808718787420
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2043-8087

Abstract

The aim was to determine whether there are differences between groups in jumping to conclusions and the number of beads required to make a decision based on task difficulty. An assessment was made of 19 patients with non-affective psychosis, 19 with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), and 19 healthy controls. The Beads Task scale was used in its two versions. Patients with non-affective psychosis jumped to conclusions. There was significant interaction between group and task difficulty. Increased difficulty of the task did not affect the number of beads patients with non-affective psychosis or OCD needed to make their decision. However, healthy controls needed to see more beads before they could make a decision in the hard test than in the easy one. Patients with non-affective psychosis jump to conclusions, but neither this group nor the OCD patients benefit from the changes in task difficulty when making their decisions.