Planning functioning and impulsiveness in obsessive–compulsive disorder

Abstract

Planning ability (PA) is a key aspect of cognitive functioning and requires subjects to identify and organise the necessary steps to achieve a goal. Despite the central role of executive dysfunction in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), deficits in PA have been investigated leading to contrasting results. Given these inconsistencies, the main aim of our work is to give a deeper and clearer understanding of PA in OCD patients. Moreover, we are interested in investigating the relationship between PAs and impulsivity traits and other clinical variables. Sixty-eight OCD patients and 68 healthy controls (HCs) matched for sex and age were assessed through the Stocking of Cambridge (SoC), a computerised version of the Tower of London. We examined planning sub-components for each difficulty levels (from 2 to 5 minimum moves). Our results showed that OCD patients needed longer initial thinking time than HCs during the execution of low demanding tasks (i.e. 2 and 3 moves), while the accuracy level between the two groups did not significantly differ. OCD patients required longer initial thinking time also during high demanding tasks (i.e., 4 and 5 moves), but in this case their accuracy was significantly worse than HCs' one. We did not find any association between impulsivity and PAs. Our results supported the hypothesis that OCD patients were not able to retain in memory the planned sequence and they had to reschedule their movements during the execution. Thus, future studies should deepen the interrelation between working memory and PA to better understand the influence between these two cognitive functions and their interaction with clinical variables in OCD patients.

Executive Functioning in Chinese Patients With Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

“…Moreover, within the patient group, no significant performance differences were detected between patients who were classified as having either relatively mild or severe OCD symptoms. These results are unexpected and do not seem to support the view that impaired executive functioning is a core cognitive and pathophysiological feature of OCD (5)(6)(7)(8)(9). However, several factors partly related to limitations of the present study need to be considered before this conclusion can be well accepted.…”

“…Studies have shown that patients with OCD typically perform more poorly than matched healthy control participants (HCs) on neuropsychological tests involving high-level cognitive or 'executive' functions, including planning, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory motor control (5)(6)(7). These results have led to the hypothesis that impaired executive functioning (EF), including hyper excitability of the orbital frontal cortex and its functional connections, is a core cognitive and pathophysiological feature of OCD (8,9).…”

Impact of time perspectives on texting intervention to reduce HIV/STI transmission among female sex workers in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

“…It has been reported that people who have substance use disorders are more impulsive (Hayaki et al, 2006;Moeller et al, 2001), and have difficulties turning down immediate rewards and planning for the future (Koffarnus et al, 2016). Impulsivity has also been identified as a characteristic of individuals who have a shortened time perspective (Petry et al, 1998;Teuscher & Mitchell, 2011), which may be related to deficits in executive functioning performance, specifically planning ability (Martoni et al, 2017). Impulsivity was not measured in the parent study; hence, we were unable to take this factor into account in our time perspective analyses.…”

“…Juarez had lower levels of education and were more likely to be parenting children under the age of 18 years, both of which could have bolstered their response to short-term text messages that focused on immediate rewards for sustaining positive behavior change. Low education is common among FSWs in LMIC (Andrews et al, 2015;Tamene et al, 2015;Trout et al, 2015) and may be associated with deficits in ability to plan for and achieve future-oriented goals (Köstering et al, 2015;Martoni et al, 2017). It is plausible that text messages with a short-term time perspective may be more relevant and appealing to FSWs with low levels of education, as evidenced among participants in the Cd.…”

Comparing impulsivity in borderline personality, schizophrenia and obsessional‐compulsive disorders: Who is ahead?

“…Even though not all dimension of impulsivity was salient, researchers question the impact of impulsivity, linking OCD more with compulsivity (behavioral impulsivity) than urgency (Chamberlain et al, 2017) explaining why certain impulsivity dimension was less relevant. Martoni et al (2018) found that there was no association of Impulsivity in OCD regarding planning ability, questioning the cognitive processes of impulsivity in OCD.…”