Obsessive-Compulsive Tendencies Affect Probabilistic Learning Variability

Recent research has offered illuminating insights into the intricate relationship between obsessive-compulsive tendencies and individual differences in probabilistic learning. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and its related characteristics manifest as intrusive thoughts, repetitive behaviors, and significant distress. Interestingly, these tendencies aren’t limited to clinical populations; many individuals exhibit subclinical symptoms impacting their daily lives. The present study dives deeper into this phenomenon, focusing on how these tendencies influence implicit learning mechanisms.

Who hasn’t drifted off during a meeting or class, their mind elsewhere, absorbed in their thoughts? This universal phenomenon, often seen as a moment of distraction to be corrected, is actually much more valuable than we think. We spend between 30 and 50% of our waking time daydreaming. A common behavior, yet still largely mysterious to neuroscience.

A study revealed that the mental drift often seen as a distraction may promote unconscious learning. When the mind voluntarily detaches from a task, the brain engages in sleep-like activity that helps strengthen certain connections.

A new study finds that spontaneous mind wandering may actually boost learning during tasks that require minimal attention. Researchers recorded brain activity while participants completed a simple, low-effort learning task based on probability. Surprisingly, participants who let their minds drift performed just as well—if not better—than when fully focused. This suggests that passive states of mind, similar to sleep-like neural activity, can support certain types of unconscious learning.

Children and adults spend hours mind-wandering every day. While this may distract them from their immediate goals, this mind-wandering could help strengthen so-called “implicit” learning, which is essential for predicting the future. This has been demonstrated by the team of Dezső Németh, an Inserm researcher at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center.

“A recent study published in Brain Research has shed light on how memory processes operate in individuals with varying levels of autistic traits, including those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The research reveals that ultrafast memory consolidation—a process by which the brain stabilizes and enhances learning during brief pauses—functions similarly in neurotypical individuals and those with ASD. This finding highlights that both groups exhibit intact learning and memory dynamics, challenging assumptions that autism might alter these processes.”

“Dezső Németh, Inserm researcher, seeks to understand how our brain anticipates the future by relying on our memories, and how local sleep as well as mind-wandering support these processes. ” (p. 22)

“Scientists have discovered that individuals who are particularly good at learning patterns and sequences tend to struggle more with tasks requiring active thinking and decision-making. Their new research, published in npj Science of Learning, found a negative correlation between statistical learning and executive functions, suggesting that as one strengthens, the other may diminish slightly. This finding provides valuable insights into the competitive interactions that underpin our cognitive skills.”

“Dezső Németh, team leader at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, talks about his current responsibilities as an Inserm Chair and tells us a little more about himself, implicit learning, and the cultural differences seen in his day-to-day research in the USA and Europe.”

“The idea that they have impaired judgement compared to other age groups is contradicted by a recent study contradicted by a recent study. Drunkenness, careless driving, unprotected sex… Young people seem to accumulate risky behaviour. (…)”

“Learning to program and re-programme automatic habits and behaviours is a major scientific challenge. Advances in brain plasticity research have broad implications for health sciences aimed at overcoming harmful behaviours, such as addictions and obsessive-compulsive behaviour. (…)”

“Is sleep necessary for consolidating learned information? Can a smoker’s brain be reprogrammed not to crave cigarettes? Guest on the Qubit podcast is Dezső Németh, a psychologist leading the Brain, Memory and Language Lab.”

“A professional tennis player already knows where the opponent’s serve will land the moment it’s tossed. Our brain is constantly learning, analyzing, and deciding, often without us being aware of it, and many of our abilities stem from this intuitive learning process. In our minds, instinctive and controlled systems responsible for conscious decisions constantly compete with each other, and most of the time, one can only strengthen at the expense of the other. Intuitions and hunches are not guided by mystical forces but rather by our brains continuously attempting to predict the future.”

“A specialist in implicit memory, Dezso Nemeth develops an approach where theoretical psychology meets experimentation. He thus unveils mechanisms that are essential to our cognition and by nature difficult to explain. (…)”

“Our brain is constantly learning. If we visit someone in the hospital every day, it learns the colors, smells, the extent of eye pupil dilation, the resonance of the voice, and many other things. It processes these every day, and if it detects a sudden change, such as a slight modulation in voice or pupil size, it sends a signal immediately. This isn’t conscious perception, but it still happens.”

“In such moments, the brain seeks changes and patterns in the environment and connects them with previous memories to recognize what needs to be done in this situation. Of course, all of this happens unconsciously,” explains Dezső Németh, the leader of the research group.”

“I would like to understand why people behave the way they do. It excites me that we behave in a certain way, but we don’t know exactly why. Is there free will, or is it the brain’s control?” – lightning portrait of a researcher who studies memory yet looks into the future.

“People with Tourette’s syndrome seem to have enhanced memory that could make them better at learning tasks unconsciously, such as speaking a second language or driving a car.”

Researchers at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL) have recently carried out a study aimed at putting the known pieces of this puzzle together by reviewing past studies investigating the neural processes behind artistic cognition. Their paper, published by MIT Press in the journal Leonardo, provides valuable new insight about the role that competitive brain processes could play in artistic cognition.

“Hungarian researchers claim that children aged 8-15 with Tourette syndrome outperformed the typically developing control group in learning tasks. They investigated the characteristics of learning and memory processes in children undergoing treatment for Tourette syndrome. The experts focused their research on implicit, non-conscious learning, which is crucial for acquiring motor skills (such as sports), cognitive skills (language), and social skills.”

“…Children with Tourette Syndrome performed better in learning tasks than the typically developing control group. This is interesting because neurological developmental disorders were previously thought to only have negative consequences and symptoms, with performance improvement being very rarely observed.”

Dezso Nemeth, a psychologist at the University of Szeged in Hungary, suggests that while we sleep, short-term “working memories” are transferred from the hippocampus of the brain to the cortex, where they become more stable, long-term memories.

“A recent study in Nature suggests breaking ingrained habits is possible. Researchers from ELTE, MTA, and the University of Szeged found that the brain can adapt and form new habits, offering hope for change with implications for brain research and mental health treatment.”

“Eating so-called comfort foods with large amounts of fat and sugar has been shown to vastly improve people’s moods. A report in the Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science suggests that drawing pictures of unhealthy food can also have positive effects on mood.”

“So, we have our “good” habits and bad ones; we want to get rid of the latter while reinforcing and enhancing the former. This is what is terribly difficult, and the question is more about whether our ingrained habits can be overwritten. Researchers from ELTE, MTA, and the University of Szeged have made a groundbreaking contribution globally by examining and proving: yes, our habits can be overwritten, meaning our brains can be rewired.”

“Children living with autism show impairments in several cognitive functions. However, we have found a learning function that remains intact in autistic children. Based on this, development procedures and therapies can be devised,” says Németh, the leader of the  research group.”

“It’s good to have a sense of achievement in language learning because language learning can also be a great suffering. If you start learning a foreign language and don’t have any sense of achievement, you can end up hating it.”

“The research team from the University of Szeged, led by Dr. Dezső Németh, successfully supported interesting hypotheses with scientific evidence. The team investigated the role of cooperation between certain areas of the brain, age, and hypnosis in the process and success of learning.”

“… these latest studies suggest that individuals with autism spectrum disorder can learn implicitly just as well as typically developing individuals, over short and longer periods of time.”