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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])
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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 

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