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Missing the forest for the trees? Deficient memory for linguistic gist in obsessive–compulsive disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2001

A. R. CABRERA ,
R. J. McNALLY  and
C. R. SAVAGE
A. R. CABRERA
Affiliation:
From the Department of Psychology, Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, Cambridge, MA, USA
R. J. McNALLY
Affiliation:
From the Department of Psychology, Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, Cambridge, MA, USA
C. R. SAVAGE
Affiliation:
From the Department of Psychology, Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, Cambridge, MA, USA
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Abstract

Background. Patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) exhibit recall deficits on word learning tasks, mediated by their failure to detect semantic connections among the words.

Methods. In the present experiment, using methods devised by Bransford & Franks (1971), we tested whether this encoding problem impairs their extraction of gist from complex linguistic material.

Results. Consistent with our hypothesis, OCD patients extracted less gist from related sentences than did healthy participants. The groups did not differ in recognition memory for individual sentences or in criterion for affirming previously encountered sentences as ‘old’, as evinced by signal detection indices of memory sensitivity (d′) and response bias (β), or in recognition memory confidence.

Conclusions. These data provide further evidence that OCD patients exhibit less reliance on organizational strategies than do healthy control participants. These data are consistent with neuropsychological research suggestive of prefrontal executive problems in OCD.

Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 31 , Issue 6 , August 2001 , pp. 1089 - 1094
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

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