Compulsivity is a hallmark of many psychiatric disorders. In obsessive-compulsive disorder, electrical stimulation throughout basal ganglia is used to treat compulsivity. However, the mechanism by which this stimulation works is poorly understood, as the physiological manifestation of compulsivity itself is yet to be discovered. Across different projects, Tara aims to identify electrophysiological correlates of compulsive behavior in human OCD patients and rodent models of compulsivity, at the level of single neurons, neural networks, and neuronal communication between brain areas. Identifying these signatures of compulsivity paves the way toward improving treatment thereof, by specifically targeting the aberrant neural activity that causes it.
