Memory In Obsessive-compulsive Disorder Research Articles

Altered prefrontal beta oscillatory activity during removal of information from working memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder

BackgroundObsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is related to working memory impairment. Since patients with OCD have difficulty controlling their obsessive thoughts, removal of irrelevant information might be important in the pathophysiology of OCD. However, little is known about brain activity during the removal of information from working memory in patients with OCD. Our goal was to explore potential deficits in inhibitory function related to working memory processes in patients with OCD.MethodsSixteen OCD patients and 20 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. We compared in prefrontal alpha and beta band activity derived from magnetoencephalography (MEG) between patients with OCD and HCs during multiple phases of information processing associated with working memory, especially in post-trial period of the visuospatial working memory task (the delayed matching-to‐sample task), which is presumed to be related to the information removal process of working memory.ResultsPrefrontal post-trial beta power change (presumed to occur at high levels during the post-trial period) exhibited significant reductions in patients with OCD compared to HCs. In addition, the post-trial beta power change was negatively correlated with Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory–Revised total scores in patients with OCD.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that impairment in the removal of information from working memory might be a key mechanism underlying the inability of OCD patients to rid themselves of their obsessions.

Episodic Memory in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Comparison with Healthy Controls

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder is identified by intrusive thoughts and related compulsive behaviors. Memory complaints are controversial among obsessive-compulsive disorder patients. Objectives: The present study compared verbal, visual, episodic, and semantic memory between obsessive-compulsive disorder patients and healthy controls. Methods: This is a case-control study. The participants included 31 newly diagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder outpatients and 30 healthy controls. The patients were selected using targeted sampling from Emam Reza Polyclinic, affiliated with blinded for peer review. They responded to a demographic checklist, structured clinical interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I), verbal and visual episodic memory from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R), and autobiographical memory interview (AMI). Results: The results indicated that patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder compared with the controls had lower scores in visual (P = 0.0001), verbal (P = 0.006), semantic (P = 0.3), and episodic memory (P = 0.001). Conclusions: All types of memory which were evaluated in the present study were impaired in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Memory impairment might explain the psychiatric symptoms of the disorder.

Role of Prospective Memory in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

The role of memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been an area of research that has yielded mixed results, particularly in prospective memory (PM) functioning. Hence, one objective of the study was to assess PM deficits in patients with OCD. Also, research in this area has been sparse, and most researchers have used questionnaires and people with subclinical symptoms of OCD, which might have impacted the generalizability of the findings. Thus, the second objective was to assess PM functioning using a performance-based task in persons with OCD having clinical symptoms. This is a cross-sectional comparative study of 30 adults with OCD and 30 adults without psychiatric morbidity. The tools used were Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DY-BOCS), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD), General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ 12), and Cambridge Prospective Memory Test (CAMPROMPT). Event-based PM was significantly poor in the OCD group. In time-based PM, no significant difference was found between the groups. Three subgroups in OCD, predominantly obsessions, predominantly compulsions, and mixed types, did not differ significantly with respect to PM. The result suggested a deficit of event-based PM in OCD, which can help understand the psychopathology of memory deficit in the clinical population and bridge the gap with respect to memory research in this domain.

Altered Prefrontal Beta Oscillatory Activity During Removal of Working Memory in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Altered Prefrontal Beta Oscillatory Activity During Removal of Working Memory in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Examining Differences in Fear Learning in Patients With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder With Pupillometry, Startle Electromyography and Skin Conductance Responses.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by recurrent, persistent thoughts and repetitive behaviors causing stress and anxiety. In the associative learning model of OCD, mechanisms of fear extinction are supposed to partly underlie symptom development, maintenance and treatment of OCD, proposing that OCD patients suffer from rigid memory associations and inhibitory learning deficits. To test these assumptions, previous studies have used skin conductance and subjective ratings as readouts in fear conditioning paradigms, finding impaired fear extinction learning, impaired fear extinction recall or no differences between individuals with OCD and healthy controls. Against this heterogeneous background, we tested fear acquisition and extinction in 37 OCD patients and 56 healthy controls, employing skin conductance as well as pupillometry and startle electromyography. Extinction recall was also included in a subsample. We did not observe differences between groups in any of the task phases, except a trend toward higher startle amplitudes during extinction for OCD. Overall, sensitive readouts such as pupillometry and startle responses did not provide evidence for moderate-to-large inhibitory learning deficits using classical fear conditioning, challenging the assumption of generically impaired extinction learning and memory in OCD.

Revisiting verbal recognition memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder: A computational approach

Deficits in primary recognition memory and confidence have previously been tested as potential contributors to excessive checking behavior in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Studies have tested both recognition for actions and, hypothesizing that recognition may be disrupted more generally across content domains, verbal recognition memory. However, studies of verbal recognition memory have yielded mixed results. We revisited this work with the benefit of hindsight, running two new experiments with larger samples, the manipulation of recognition difficulty, and a computational model-based approach to data analysis. In both datasets, we found that discriminability, defined as the difference in drift rate for old versus new stimuli in the drift-diffusion model, was reduced as a function of subclinical OCD symptoms in the general population. Paralleling work on drift rate deficits in perceptual decision making in OCD, these reductions were larger for easier recognition decisions. We also asked participants about their confidence in each recognition decision and parcellated confidence into bias, or the difference in overall confidence, and sensitivity, which represents the ability to appropriately map confidence to objective accuracy. We found no consistent evidence of a relationship between OCD symptoms and either quantity.

Response Inhibition, Cognitive Flexibility and Working Memory in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder.

This study analyzed response inhibition, cognitive flexibility and working memory in three groups of patients diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, social anxiety disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, considering some variables that may influence results (nonverbal reasoning, comorbidity, use of pharmacotherapy). Neuropsychological measures were completed using a computerized Wisconsin card sorting test, Stroop color word test, go/no-go task, digits and Corsi. Significant differences were obtained among groups in cognitive flexibility and working memory variables. The obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) group showed the worst results. The social anxiety disorder group obtained greater effect sizes in visuospatial memory. However, significant differences between groups in visuospatial memory were no longer present when nonverbal reasoning was controlled. Comorbidity influenced interference in the OCD and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) groups. In addition, the executive functions were differently influenced by the level of obsessions and anxiety, and the use of pharmacotherapy. Study limitations include a non-random selection of participants, modest sample size and design type (cross-sectional). The OCD group showed the worst results in flexibility cognitive and verbal working memory. Comorbidity, use of pharmacotherapy and level anxiety and obsessions were variables influencing the performance of executive functions.

Iconic Memory in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

In this study, we aimed to investigate whether there is a fast decay in the iconic memory of patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) compared to healthy individuals by taking into consideration the clinical OCD subtypes. The study included 74 patients diagnosed with OCD on the basis of the DSM 5 criteria and 63 healthy individuals. The OCD patients were grouped as washers, checkers, both washers and checkers, and non-washers and non-checkers. All participants took a partial report test (PRT) to compare iconic memory performance between the healthy control group and the OCD group as a whole and in OCD subgroups. Loss of iconic memory did not differ between OCD group and the controls. The iconic memory scores, expressed as the d' values, at specified time points correlated negatively with age and positively with education duration in all groups. When the subgroup data were analyzed by controlling for age, the d1'value showing formation of iconic information was lower in the washers subgroup in comparison to the checkers subgroup and the nonwashers and non-checkers subgroup. The d7' value was also lower in the washers subgroup than in the the non-washers and non-checkers subgroup and the healthy control group. The iconic decay rate of the washers subgroup between the time points d6' and d7' was significantly higher in comparison to the healthy control group. The scores of OCD patients on the washing subscale of the Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (MOCI) showed negative correlations with the iconic memory scores at all time points. This study showed that washer OCD patients may have impaired iconic formation and fast iconic decay, which could significantly affect the amount of information transferred to visual memory.

Distinct Effects of Social Stress on Working Memory in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Stress might exaggerate the compulsion and impair the working memory of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This study evaluated the effect of stress on the cognitive neural processing of working memory in OCD and its clinical significance using a “number calculation working memory” task. Thirty-eight patients and 55 gender- and education-matched healthy controls were examined. Stress impaired the performance of the manipulation task in patients. Healthy controls showed less engagement of the medial prefrontal cortex and striatum during the task under stress versus less stress, which was absent in the patients with OCD. The diagnosis × stress interaction effect was significant in the right fusiform, supplementary motor area, precentral cortex and caudate. The failure of suppression of the medial prefrontal cortex and striatum and stress-related hyperactivation in the right fusiform, supplementary motor area, precentral cortex, and caudate might be an OCD-related psychopathological and neural response to stress.

Prospective memory in obsessive compulsive disorder

Studies on the nature and extent of prospective memory impairment in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder are relatively scarce. The present study examined prospective memory in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder in comparison to patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. Prospective memory was assessed using Memory for Intentions Screening Test (MIST). Further, the participants were administered Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Tower Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and Stroop Test for assessing their planning ability, mental flexibility and cognitive inhibition, respectively. Monitoring was assessed by frequency of clock checking. Results indicated that as compared to healthy controls, the patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder performed poorly on both time- and event-based prospective memory tasks, whereas, patients with schizophrenia performed poorly on time-based prospective memory task only. Further, both the patient groups had comparable performance across time- and event-based tasks. Results of error analysis indicated that patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder mainly committed no response and task substitution errors, whereas patients with schizophrenia committed no response errors. Except monitoring, none of the neurocognitive variables correlated with time or event-based prospective memory in any group. The findings are discussed in the light of their implications for retraining of prospective memory deficits in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia.

Examining procedural working memory processing in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Previous research has suggested that a deficit in working memory might underlie the difficulty of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients to control their thoughts and actions. However, a recent meta-analyses found only small effect sizes for working memory deficits in OCD. Recently, a distinction has been made between declarative and procedural working memory. Working memory in OCD was tested mostly using declarative measurements. However, OCD symptoms typically concerns actions, making procedural working-memory more relevant. Here, we tested the operation of procedural working memory in OCD. Participants with OCD and healthy controls performed a battery of choice reaction tasks under high and low procedural working memory demands. Reaction-times (RT) were estimated using ex-Gaussian distribution fitting, revealing no group differences in the size of the RT distribution tail (i.e., τ parameter), known to be sensitive to procedural working memory manipulations. Group differences, unrelated to working memory manipulations, were found in the leading-edge of the RT distribution and analyzed using a two-stage evidence accumulation model. Modeling results suggested that perceptual difficulties might underlie the current group differences. In conclusion, our results suggest that procedural working-memory processing is most likely intact in OCD, and raise a novel, yet untested assumption regarding perceptual deficits in OCD.

Verbalizations during compulsions in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Research on memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) suggests that people with OCD lack confidence in their memory and that repetition of an action actively erodes confidence in memory for it. Meanwhile, research on general memory processes suggests that when people say aloud the material they seek to remember, just once, memory is improved (MacLeod, Gopie, Hourihan, Neary, & Ozubko, 2010). It could prove useful to examine the extent to which people with OCD verbalize during their compulsions in order to better recall them later, and to examine the effectiveness of verbalizing when it is repeated. However, we do not know whether people with OCD speak aloud during compulsions. This study examined the frequency, purpose, and impact of verbalization on self-reported memory accuracy and confidence in people with OCD (N=35). Over half reported speaking aloud while engaging in their compulsions, most often to improve confidence that the action had been done properly. Tendency to verbalize was associated with better self-reported memory for the action and greater memory confidence, but not with urge to repeat the action. These data suggest that research on memory strategies may be usefully brought to bear on our understanding of the persistence of compulsions.

Alpha amplitude and phase locking in obsessive-compulsive disorder during working memory

Alpha event-related desynchronization (ERD) and synchronization are known to reflect brain activation and inhibition, respectively. Alpha phase locking seems to reflect the timing in the cortical process. In a previous study, lower alpha ERD was related to working memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients than in controls during the retention and retrival phases, but not in the encoding phase. However, memory deficits in OCD patients are known to be related to executive failure during the encoding phase. Thus, focusing on the encoding phase, we tested the level of alpha amplitude and phase locking in OCD patients according to memory load. The EEGs of fifteen OCD patients and fifteen controls were recorded during a Sternberg working memory task. The behavioral performance of the OCD patients was normal. However, the OCD group yielded significantly lower ERD and stronger phase locking. As memory load rose, ERD and phase locking significantly increased in both groups. A difference in event-related alpha oscillation was observed in the encoding phase. Lower alpha modulation in the OCD patient simplied abnormality of the excitatory/inhibitory process in the brain, and increased phase locking might reflect excessive attentional excitability.

Prospective memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Prospective memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Impaired visuospatial associative memory and attention in obsessive compulsive disorder but no evidence for differential dopaminergic modulation

Patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) demonstrate impaired cognition in some selected domains. Although serotoninergic dysfunction has been implicated in OCD, recent evidence suggests that dopamine may play a role as well. The aim of the study was to evaluate learning and working memory in OCD and to determine the effects of dopaminergic manipulations on these capacities. Visuospatial associative memory and spatial and verbal working memory were examined in 18 nondepressed patients with OCD and 18 matched healthy controls. The study further investigated whether acute administration of dopamine D2/D3 receptor agonist and antagonist would differentially modulate cognition in OCD. Each participant underwent the cognitive battery three times in a randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design. Significant impairments in patients compared with controls were noted on the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) paired associates learning (PAL) and a measure of sustained attention (rapid visual information processing, RVIP) that persisted across all sessions, with deficient strategy in the CANTAB spatial working memory task in the first session alone. Although the dopamine D2/D3 agonist, pramipexole, led to poorer performance on the PAL and RVIP tasks, no differential effects were noted between the two groups. No significant effects were noted for the D2/D3 antagonist, amisulpride. The results are consistent with a specific associative memory deficit in OCD that remained robust despite possible practice effects and compensatory strategies and point to abnormal medial temporal lobe involvement in OCD in addition to the previously implicated frontostriatal loops, with no clear evidence of D2 receptor mediation.

An experimental study of prospective memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder

The aim of the present study was to investigate prospective memory (PM) function in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). An event-based PM task was administered to 30 OCD patients and 30 healthy adult participants. For OCD patients, PM instruction produced significantly more cost in terms of reaction time (RT) during the ongoing task. A significant group–experimental condition interaction in ongoing task RTs was found, which suggests that PM instruction loaded an extra cost onto OCD patients' ongoing activities, and this was independent of the execution of the PM intention. Comparing the PM task RTs between patients and healthy adults also revealed a significant group difference. These results suggest that OCD patients experience difficulties during PM tasks, and these difficulties originate from overmonitoring the stimuli for PM cues.

A case-control study of sex differences in strategic processing and episodic memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Although clinical and genetic data for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) support the hypothesis of sexual dimorphism, the neuropsychological findings remain inconclusive. The aim of our study was to determine whether there are differences in cognitive performance between men and women with OCD as compared with healthy controls (HCs). A neuropsychological battery was administered to 50 patients with OCD (31 men and 19 women) and 50 HCs matched by sex, age, and educational level with patients. We evaluated intelligence, attention, episodic memory, and use of organizational strategies during encoding of verbal and nonverbal information. Male patients scored worse than controls did in measures of nonverbal memory tasks, whereas the cognitive performance of women with OCD was consistent with that of their HC counterparts. These results suggest a distinct pattern of cognitive dysfunction specific to the patients' sex.

Metacognition and episodic memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Memory deficits in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have been frequently reported but are not sufficiently accounted for by cognitive models of OCD. The aim of the study was to identify cognitive mechanisms that might be able to explain memory deficits in OCD. We hypothesized that a self-conscious meta-cognitive style might be responsible for reduced memory performance in OCD. Episodic verbal memory performance was assessed in 23 participants with OCD (DSM-IV criteria) and 22 matched controls. Cognitive self-consciousness was assessed with a self-report measure derived from the Meta-Cognitions Questionnaire (MCQ). Compared to controls, OCD participants showed reduced immediate and delayed recall of complex verbal material and increased self-reported levels of cognitive self-consciousness. Multiple regression analyses indicated that group differences in story recall were significantly mediated by self-reported trait cognitive self-consciousness. Results point to the deteriorating effects of a thought-focused cognitive style on effortful encoding processes in OCD.

No deficits in nonverbal memory, metamemory and internal as well as external source memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

A large body of literature suggests that some symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) result from mnemonic dysfunctions. The present study tested various formulations of the memory deficit hypothesis considering important moderators, such as depression and response slowing. Thirty-two OCD patients and 32 healthy controls were presented verbal or nonverbal instructions for actions (e.g. simple gestures). These actions should either be performed or imagined. For recognition, previously presented as well as novel actions were displayed. Decisions had to be made whether an action was previously displayed (verbally vs. nonverbally) or not and whether an action was performed or imagined (internal source memory). Moreover, both judgments required confidence ratings. Groups did not differ in memory accuracy and metamemory for verbally presented material. Patients displayed some impairment for nonverbally presented material and imagined instructions, which, however, could be fully accounted for by response slowing and depressive symptoms. The study challenges the view that primary memory deficits underlie OCD or any of its subtypes. We claim that research should move forward from the mere study of objective impairment to the assessment of cognitive performance in conjunction with personality traits such as inflated responsibility.

Memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder: Current status and its clinical implications

Event Abstract Back to Event Memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder: Current status and its clinical implications Hatice Günes1* 1 Center for Individual and Academic Development, Sabanci University, Turkey Because indecisiveness and chronic doubt are hallmarks of OCD (e.g., did I turn the oven off?; did I check the door?) it is not surprising that memory problems have been postulated to underlie this anxiety disorder. This doubt may reflect 1) general memory deficit, 2) deficit in memory of OCD-related material, or 3) a lack of confidence with respect to the memory. This review will consider the related studies in a historical manner to handle these tree explanations. Firstly, empirical studies which examined frontal lobe dysfunction in OCD will be mentioned briefly. The hypothesis that underlines these studies is, `repetitive behaviours might simply result from impaired recall for past events. Secondly, the current review will focus on those studies that have examined specific concerns of the participants, in other words OCD threat-related stimuli. The results of the studies proposed that, instead of a memory deficit in association with OCD, there is a memory bias. Finally, studies which have explored the concept of metamemory in OCD will be mentioned. Metamemory refers to one’s knowledge of one’s memory. According to the results of these studies, patients’ reports of poor memory might result from poor confidence in their memory. The clinical relevance of the metamemory studies also will be summarized in order to provide some practical information to clinicians who work in applied settings. Conference: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Turkey, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Memory & Learning Citation: Günes H (2008). Memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder: Current status and its clinical implications. Conference Abstract: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.276 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 09 Dec 2008; Published Online: 09 Dec 2008. * Correspondence: Hatice Günes, Center for Individual and Academic Development, Sabanci University, Instambul, Turkey, haticeg@sabanciuniv.edu Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Hatice Günes Google Hatice Günes Google Scholar Hatice Günes PubMed Hatice Günes Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.