Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:07:46.617Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Differential role of visuospatial working memory in the propensity toward uncertainty in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder and in healthy subjects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2013

V. Lambrecq ,
J.-Y. Rotge ,
N. Jaafari ,
B. Aouizerate ,
N. Langbour ,
B. Bioulac ,
C. Liégeois-Chauvel ,
P. Burbaud  and
D. Guehl
V. Lambrecq*
Affiliation:
Service de Neurophysiologie Clinique, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Pellegrin, Bordeaux, France Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, CNRS UMR 5293, Université Bordeaux 2, Bordeaux, France
J.-Y. Rotge
Affiliation:
Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, CNRS UMR 5293, Université Bordeaux 2, Bordeaux, France Service de Psychiatrie, Centre Hospitalier Charles Perrens, Bordeaux, France
N. Jaafari
Affiliation:
Unité de Recherche Clinique Intersectorielle en Psychiatrie, Centre Hospitalier Henri Laborit, Poitiers, France Centre d'Investigation Clinique, INSERM U802, Poitiers, France INSERM U1084, Laboratoire de Neurosciences Expérimentales et Cliniques, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France
B. Aouizerate
Affiliation:
Service de Psychiatrie, Centre Hospitalier Charles Perrens, Bordeaux, France
N. Langbour
Affiliation:
Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, CNRS UMR 5293, Université Bordeaux 2, Bordeaux, France
B. Bioulac
Affiliation:
Service de Neurophysiologie Clinique, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Pellegrin, Bordeaux, France Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, CNRS UMR 5293, Université Bordeaux 2, Bordeaux, France
C. Liégeois-Chauvel
Affiliation:
Laboratoire Epilepsie et Cognition, INSERM UMR S751, Marseille, France
P. Burbaud
Affiliation:
Service de Neurophysiologie Clinique, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Pellegrin, Bordeaux, France Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, CNRS UMR 5293, Université Bordeaux 2, Bordeaux, France
D. Guehl
Affiliation:
Service de Neurophysiologie Clinique, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Pellegrin, Bordeaux, France Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, CNRS UMR 5293, Université Bordeaux 2, Bordeaux, France
*
* Address for correspondence: V. Lambrecq, M.D., Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, CNRS UMR 5293, Université Bordeaux 2, 146 rue Léo Saignat, 33076 Bordeaux, France. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with visuospatial working memory deficits. Intolerance of uncertainty is thought to be a core component of OCD symptoms. Recent findings argue for a possible relationship between abilities in visuospatial memory and uncertainty. However, this relationship remains unclear in both OCD patients and healthy subjects. To address this issue, we measured performance in visuospatial working memory and the propensity to express uncertainty during decision making. We assessed their relationship and the temporal direction of this relationship in both OCD patients and healthy subjects.

Method

Baseline abilities in visuospatial working memory were measured with the Corsi block-tapping test. A delayed matching-to-sample task was used to identify explicit situations of certainty, uncertainty and ignorance and to assess continuous performance in visuospatial working memory. Behavioural variables were recorded over 360 consecutive trials in both groups.

Results

Baseline scores of visuospatial working memory did not predict the number of uncertain situations in OCD patients whereas they did in healthy subjects. Uncertain trials led to reduced abilities in visuospatial working memory to 65% of usual performance in OCD patients whereas they remained stable in healthy subjects.

Conclusions

The present findings show an opposite temporal direction in the relationship between abilities in working memory and uncertainty in OCD patients and healthy subjects. Poor working memory performance contributes to the propensity to feel uncertainty in healthy subjects whereas uncertainty contributes to decreased continuous performance in working memory in OCD patients.

Keywords

Decision makingdelayed matching-to-sample taskobsessive–compulsive disorderuncertaintyvisuospatial working memory
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 44 , Issue 10 , July 2014 , pp. 2113 - 2124
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anholt, GE, Aderka, IM, van Balkom, AJ, Smit, JH, Schruers, K, van der Wee, NJ, Eikelenboom, M, De Luca, V, van Oppen, P (2013). Age of onset in obsessive–compulsive disorder: admixture analysis with a large sample. Psychological Medicine. Published online 21 March 2013 . doi:10.1017/S0033291713000470.Google ScholarPubMed
Ashbaugh, AR, Radomsky, AS (2007). Attentional focus during repeated checking does influence memory but not metamemory. Cognitive Therapy and Research 31, 291–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boldrini, M, De Pace, L, Placidi, GPA, Keilp, J, Ellis, SP, Signori, S, Placidi, GF, Cappa, SF (2005). Selective cognitive deficits in obsessive–compulsive disorder compared to panic disorder with agoraphobia. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 111, 150–158.Google Scholar
Boschen, MJ, Vuksanovic, D (2007). Deteriorating memory confidence, responsibility perceptions and repeated checking: comparisons in OCD and control samples. Behaviour Research and Therapy 45, 2098–2109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clair, AH, N'Diaye, K, Baroukh, T, Pochon, JB, Morgieve, M, Hantouche, E, Falissard, B, Pelissolo, A, Mallet, L (2013). Excessive checking for non-anxiogenic stimuli in obsessive–compulsive disorder. European Psychiatry 28, 507–513.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coles, ME, Radomsky, AS, Horng, B (2006). Exploring the boundaries of memory distrust from repeated checking: increasing external validity and examining thresholds. Behaviour Research and Therapy 44, 995–1006.Google Scholar
Cuttler, C, Graf, P (2009 a). Checking-in on the memory deficit and meta-memory deficit theories of compulsive checking. Clinical Psychology Review 29, 393–409.Google Scholar
Cuttler, C, Graf, P (2009 b). Sub-clinical compulsive checkers show impaired performance on habitual, event- and time-cued episodic prospective memory tasks. Journal of Anxiety Disorders 23, 813–823.Google Scholar
Dek, ECP, van den Hout, MA, Giele, CL, Engelhard, IM (2010). Repeated checking causes distrust in memory but not in attention and perception. Behaviour Research and Therapy 48, 580–587.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fontenelle, LF, Mendlowicz, MV, Mattos, P, Versiani, M (2006). Neuropsychological findings in obsessive–compulsive disorder and its potential implications for treatment. Current Psychiatry Reviews 2, 11–26.Google Scholar
Gentsch, A, Schütz-Bosbach, S, Endrass, T, Kathmann, N (2012). Dysfunctional forward model mechanisms and aberrant sense of agency in obsessive–compulsive disorder. Biological Psychiatry 71, 652–659.Google Scholar
Giele, CL, van den Hout, MA, Engelhard, IM, Dek, EC, de Wit, K (2013). Ironic effects of compulsive perseveration. Memory 21, 417–422.Google Scholar
Gillan, CM, Morein-Zamir, S, Kaser, M, Fineberg, NA, Sule, A, Sahakian, BJ, Cardinal, RN, Robbins, TW (2013 a). Counterfactual processing of economic action-outcome alternatives in obsessive–compulsive disorder: further evidence of impaired goal-directed behavior. Biological Psychiatry. Published online 26 February 2013 . doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.01.018.Google Scholar
Gillan, CM, Morein-Zamir, S, Urcelay, GP, Sule, A, Voon, V, Apergis-Schoute, AM, Fineberg, NA, Sahakian, BJ, Robbins, TW (2013 b). Enhanced avoidance habits in obsessive–compulsive disorder. Biological Psychiatry. Published online 18 March 2013 . doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.02.002.Google Scholar
Goodman, WK, Price, LH, Rasmussen, SA, Mazure, C, Fleischmann, RL, Hill, CL, Heninger, GR, Charney, DS (1989). The Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive scale I. Development, use, and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry 46, 1006–1011.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamilton, M (1960). A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 23, 56–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harkin, B, Kessler, K (2011). The role of working memory in compulsive checking and OCD: a systematic classification of 58 experimental findings. Clinical Psychology Review 31, 1004–1021.Google Scholar
Harkin, B, Miellet, S, Kessler, K (2012). What checkers actually check: an eye tracking study of inhibitory control and working memory. PLoS ONE 7, e44689.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hinds, AL, Woody, EZ, Van Ameringen, M, Schmidt, LA, Szechtman, H (2012). When too much is not enough: obsessive–compulsive disorder as a pathology of stopping, rather than starting. PLoS ONE 7, e305586.Google Scholar
Jaafari, N, Aouizerate, B, Tignol, J, El-Hage, W, Wassouf, I, Guehl, D, Bioulac, B, Daniel, ML, Lacoste, J, Gil, R, Burbaud, P, Rotge, JY (2011). The relationship between insight and uncertainty in obsessive–compulsive disorder. Psychopathology 44, 272–276.Google Scholar
Jaafari, N, Frasca, M, Rigalleau, F, Rachid, F, Gil, R, Olie, JP, Guehl, D, Burbaud, P, Aouizerate, B, Rotge, JY, Vibert, N (2013). Forgetting what you have checked: a link between working memory impairment and checking behaviors in obsessive–compulsive disorder. European Psychiatry 28, 87–93.Google Scholar
Kim, K, Kim, SI, Cha, KR, Park, J, Rosenthal, MZ, Kim, JJ, Han, K, Kim, IY, Kim, CH (2010). Development of a computer-based behavioral assessment of checking behavior in obsessive–compulsive disorder. Comprehensive Psychiatry 51, 86–93.Google Scholar
Kuelz, AK, Hohagen, F, Voderholzer, U (2004). Neuropsychological performance in obsessive–compulsive: a critical review. Biological Psychology 65, 185–236.Google Scholar
Martinez-Gonzalez, AE, Piqueras-Rodriguez, JA (2008). Neuropsychological update on obsessive–compulsive disorder. Revista Neurologica 46, 618–625.Google ScholarPubMed
Mataix-Cols, D, Wooderson, S, Lawrence, N, Brammer, MJ, Speckens, A, Phillips, M (2004). Distinct neural correlates of washing, checking, and hoarding symptom dimensions in obsessive–compulsive disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry 61, 564–576.Google Scholar
McGuire, JF, Lewin, AB, Horng, B, Murphy, TK, Storch, EA (2012). The nature, assessment, and treatment of obsessive–compulsive disorder. Postgraduate Medicine 124, 152–165.Google Scholar
Milner, B (1971). Interhemispheric differences in the localization of psychological processes in man. British Medical Bulletin 27, 272–277.Google Scholar
Morein-Zamir, S, Craiq, KJ, Ersche, KD, Abbott, S, Muller, U, Fineberg, NA, Bullmore, ET, Sahakian, BJ, Robbins, TW (2010). Impaired visuospatial associative memory and attention in obsessive–compulsive disorder but no evidence for differential dopaminergic modulation. Psychopharmacology (Berlin) 212, 357–367.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morrens, M, Wezenberg, E, Verkes, RJ, Hulstijn, W, Ruigt, GS, Sabbe, BG (2007). Psychomotor and memory effects of haloperidol, olanzapine, and paroxetine in healthy subjects after short-term administration. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology 27, 15–21.Google Scholar
O'Connor, K, Aardema, F, Pelissier, MC (2005). Beyond Reasonable Doubt. Wiley and Sons: London.Google Scholar
Radomsky, AS, Gilchrist, PT, Dussault, D (2006). Repeated checking really does cause memory distrust. Behaviour Research and Therapy 44, 305–316.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rasmussen, SA, Eisen, JL (1992). The epidemiology and differential diagnosis of obsessive compulsive disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 53, 4–10.Google Scholar
Rotge, JY, Clair, AH, Jaafari, N, Hantouche, EG, Pelissolo, A, Goillandeau, M, Pochon, JB, Guehl, D, Bioulac, B, Burbaud, P, Tignol, J, Mallet, L, Aouizerate, B (2008 a). A challenging task for assessment of checking behaviors in obsessive–compulsive disorder. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 117, 465–473.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rotge, JY, Guehl, D, Dilharreguy, B, Cuny, E, Tignol, J, Bioulac, B, Allard, M, Burbaud, P, Aouizerate, B (2008 b). Provocation of obsessive–compulsive symptoms: a quantitative voxel-based meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience 33, 405–412.Google Scholar
Rotge, JY, Langbour, N, Dilharreguy, B, Bordessoulles, M, Guehl, D, Bioulac, B, Martin-Guehl, C, Jaafari, N, Aouizerate, B, Allard, M, Burbaud, P (2012). Contextual and behavioral influences on uncertainty in obsessive–compulsive disorder. Cortex. Published online 22 December 2012 . doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2012.12.010.Google Scholar
Scherf, KS, Sweeney, JA, Luna, B (2006). Brain basis of developmental change in visuospatial working memory. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 18, 1045–1058.Google Scholar
Sheehan, DV, Lecrubier, Y, Sheehan, KH, Amorim, P, Janavs, J, Weiller, E, Herqueta, T, Baker, R, Dunbar, GC (1998). The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.): The development and validation of a structured diagnostic psychiatric interview for DSM-IV and ICD-10. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 59 (Suppl. 20), 22–33.Google ScholarPubMed
Stein, DJ (2002). Obsessive–compulsive disorder. Lancet 360, 397–405.Google Scholar
Storch, EA, Larson, MJ, Price, LH, Rasmussen, SA, Murphy, TK, Goodman, WK (2010 a). Psychometric analysis of the Yale–Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale Second Edition Symptom Checklist. Journal of Anxiety Disorders 24, 547–552.Google Scholar
Storch, EA, Rasmussen, SA, Price, LH, Larson, MJ, Murphy, TK, Goodman, WK (2010 b). Development and psychometric evaluation of the Yale–Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale Second Edition. Psychological Assessment 22, 223–232.Google Scholar
Szechtman, H, Woody, E (2004). Obsessive–compulsive disorder as a disturbance of security motivation. Psychological Review 111, 111–127.Google Scholar
Tallis, F (1997). The neuropsychology of obsessive–compulsive disorder: a review and consideration of clinical implications. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 36, 3–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tallis, F, Pratt, P, Jamani, N (1999). Obsessive compulsive disorder, checking, and non-verbal memory: a neuropsychological investigation. Behaviour Research and Therapy 37, 161–166.Google Scholar
Toffolo, MBJ, Van den Hout, MA, Hooge, ITC, Engelhard, IM, Cath, DC (2013). Mild uncertainty promotes checking behavior in subclinical obsessive–compulsive disorder. Clinical Psychological Science 1, 103–109.Google Scholar
Van den Hout, MA, Kindt, M (2003 a). Repeated checking causes memory distrust. Behaviour Research and Therapy 41, 301–316.Google Scholar
Van den Hout, MA, Kindt, M (2003 b). Phenomenological validity of an OCD–memory model and the remember/know distinction. Behaviour Research and Therapy 41, 369–378.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wechsler, D (1987). Wechsler Memory Scale, revised manual. The Psychological Corporation: San Antonio.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D (1997). Manual for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 3rd edn. The Psychological Corporation: San Antonio.Google Scholar
Woods, CM, Vevea, JL, Chambless, DL, Bayen, UJ (2002). Are compulsive checkers impaired in memory? A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice 9, 353–366.Google Scholar
Wu, KD, Aardema, F, O'Connor, KP (2009). Inferential confusion, obsessive beliefs, and obsessive–compulsive symptoms: a replication and extension. Journal of Anxiety Disorders 23, 746–752.Google Scholar
Zielinski, CM, Taylor, MA, Juzwin, KR (1991). Neuropsychological deficits in obsessive–compulsive disorder. Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology, and Behavioral Neurology 4, 110–126.Google Scholar
Zitterl, W, Urban, C, Linzmayer, L, Aigner, M, Demal, U, Semler, B, Zitterl-Eqlseer, K (2001). Memory deficits in patients with DSM IV obsessive–compulsive disorder. Psychopathology 34, 113–117.Google Scholar