Effects of gender and executive function on visuospatial working memory in adult obsessive–compulsive disorder

Abstract

Visuospatial working memory (VSWM) is the ability of the brain to transiently store and manipulate visual information. VSWM deficiencies have been reported in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but not consistently, perhaps due to variability in task design and clinical patient factors. To explore this variability, this study assessed effects of the design factors task difficulty and executive organizational strategy and of the clinical factors gender, OCD symptom dimension, and duration of illness on VSWM in OCD. The CANTAB spatial working memory, spatial recognition memory, delayed matching to sample, and stop signal tasks were administered to 42 adult OCD patients and 42 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Aims were to detect a possible VSWM deficit in the OCD sample, to evaluate influences of the above task and patient factors, to determine the specificity of the deficit to the visuospatial subdomain, and to examine effects of sustained attention as potential neurocognitive confound. We confirmed previous findings of a VSWM deficit in OCD that was more severe for greater memory load (task difficulty) and that was affected by task strategy (executive function). We failed to demonstrate significant deficits in neighboring or confounding neurocognitive subdomains (visual object recognition or visual object short-term memory, sustained attention). Notably, the VSWM deficit was only significant for female patients, adding to evidence for sexual dimorphism in OCD. Again as in prior work, more severe OCD symptoms in the symmetry dimension (but no other dimension) significantly negatively impacted VSWM. Duration of illness had no significant effect on VSWM. VSWM deficits in OCD appear more severe with higher task load and may be mediated through poor task strategy. Such deficits may present mainly in female patients and in (male and female) patients with symmetry symptoms.

Does neuropsychological performance in OCD relate to different symptoms? A meta-analysis comparing the symmetry and obsessing dimensions

“…Of the 10 studies, three were conducted in the United Kingdom (Dittrich, Johansen, Fineberg, & Inge Landrø, ; Dittrich, Johansen, Inge Landrø, & Fineberg, ; Lawrence et al., ), two in South Korea (Jang et al., ; Shin et al., ), two in Brazil (Pedron et al., ; Pinto et al., ), one in Italy (Martoni, Salgari, Galimberti, Cavallini, & O'Neill, ), one in Japan (Hashimoto et al., ), and one in India (Kashyap, Kumar, Kandavel, & Reddy, ).…”

“…Two of the studies contained at least one participant with a co‐occurring tic disorder diagnosis ( n = 1, Shin et al., ; n = 2, Martoni et al., ) and two studies did not provide data on specific comorbidities within their sample (Pedron et al., ; Pinto et al., ). Five studies excluded participants with a co‐occurring depressive disorder, three studies included individuals with a depressive diagnosis but did not provide data on the number of individuals, one study provided percent of the sample with comorbid depression (56.3%, Pinto et al., ), and one study did not provide any data on comorbid depression within the sample (Pedron et al., ).…”

“…Korea (Jang et al, 2010;Shin et al, 2012), two in Brazil (Pedron et al, 2015;Pinto et al, 2011), one in Italy (Martoni, Salgari, Galimberti, Cavallini, & O'Neill, 2015), one in Japan (Hashimoto et al, 2011), and one in India (Kashyap, Kumar, Kandavel, & Reddy, 2017).…”

Unravelling basic mechanisms in addiction and neuropsychiatric disorders

“…To explore the assumed variability in task design and clinical patient factors responsible for inconsistently reported deficiencies in visuospatial working memory (VSWM) in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Martoni et al [8] studied effects of design factors task difficulty, the clinical factors gender, OCD symptom dimension, and duration of illness on VSWM. The authors could confirm a previously reported VSWM deficit in OCD, which noteworthy only was significant for females and thus underlines evidence for sexual dimorphism in this disorder.…”

Out of Sight, Out of Mind? The Effect of Visual Field of View Restrictions on Working Memory

“…Support for the claim that random generation taxes the central executive comes from studies examining Alzheimer's patients and patients with frontal lobe lesions who display difficulty generating random sequences (Brugger, Monsch, Salmon, & Butters, 1996) and who have difficulty performing two concurrent tasks (Baddeley, Logie, Bressi, Della Sala, & Spinnler, 1986), both of which indicate impairments in the ability to coordinate attentional resources; a function of the central executive (Baddeley, 1996). Research has also linked impairments of central executive functioning to disorders such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (Alderson, Hudec, Patros, & Kasper, 2013) and obsessivecompulsive disorder (Martoni, Salgari, Galimberi, Cavallini, & O'Neill, 2015) in adults, as patients suffering from these disorders displayed a noted lack of executive organization strategies and self-regulation (Hoffman, Schmeichel, & Baddeley, 2012).…”