# Visual perception and attention in the obsessive-compulsive/anxiety spectrum: Neurophysiological characterization, predictive value, and computational modeling

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA · 2024 · $684,381

## Abstract

Summary
Dysfunctional perception and attention often accompanies and predates the onset of psychiatric illnesses
including obsessive-compulsive and anxiety disorders. Many of these dysfunctional responses appear in the
context of perceived threat and danger. The neurobiology of visual and attention systems has been extensively
characterized in animal models, resulting in extensive mechanistic knowledge ranging from the molecular to the
systems and behavioral levels. The proposed research aims to provide new empirically-based, quantitative, and
objective markers of specific perceptual and attention processes associated with obsessive-compulsive and
anxiety psychopathology. We aim to establish a dimension spanning from hypervigilance to perceptual
avoidance, hypothesized to discriminate between diagnostic categories but also predictive of transdiagnostic
variables such as severity and comorbidity. We will measure well-validated markers of sensory processing
(visual evoked potentials) and competition/attention (frequency-tagged steady state potentials). These data will
then be related to clinical data collected in a large sample of individuals presenting with symptoms on the
obsessive-compulsive and anxiety spectrum. A mechanistic computational model of perception and attention will
be used to aid in data reduction and to heighten reliability. Finding reliable and valid biomarkers of visuocortical
reactivity has the potential of transforming diagnostic assessment by providing continuous indices of specific
dysfunction. If the goals of this application are met, then reliable and valid indices of dysfunctional perception
and attention may help to significantly shift clinical practice. In assessment, objective measures of fear
conditioning could be used, for example, to objectively identify patients with hypervigilance, versus those with
avoidant dispositions. These inter-individual differences may also be relevant in the context of exposure-based
treatments and may represent novel means of assigning patients to individualized treatment protocols as well
as predicting treatment outcome.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10801223
- **Project number:** 1R01MH135426-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
- **Principal Investigator:** Andreas Keil
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $684,381
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-12-01 → 2028-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10801223

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10801223, Visual perception and attention in the obsessive-compulsive/anxiety spectrum: Neurophysiological characterization, predictive value, and computational modeling (1R01MH135426-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10801223. Licensed CC0.

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