Working memory dysfunction in schizophrenia patients with obsessive-compulsive symptoms: An fMRI study

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 160-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Bleich-Cohen ◽  
T. Hendler ◽  
R. Weizman ◽  
S. Faragian ◽  
A. Weizman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Distinct Pattern ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Similar Reduction ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
The Right

AbstractBackground:A substantial proportion of schizophrenia patients also meets DSM-IV criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Schizophrenia with OCD (“schizo-obsessive”) patients are characterized by distinct clinical characteristics, treatment response and prognosis. Whether schizo-obsessive patients exhibit a distinct pattern of brain activation is yet unknown. To address this question, the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study explicitly compared alterations in brain activation and functional connectivity (FC) underlying a working memory deficit in schizophrenia patients with and without OCD.Methods:fMRI was applied during the N-back working memory (WM) task in three groups: schizo-obsessive (n = 16), schizophrenia (n = 17) and matched healthy volunteers (n = 20). WM-related activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the right caudate nucleus, brain areas relevant to schizophrenia and OCD, and FC analysis were used for the evaluation.Results:The two schizophrenia groups with and without OCD exhibited a similar reduction in activation in the right DLPFC and right caudate, as well as decreased FC compared to the healthy controls. Notably, reduced regional brain activation was not related to severity of schizophrenic or OCD symptoms.Conclusions:Schizo-obsessive patients do not differ from their non-OCD schizophrenia counterparts in brain activation patterns during the N-back WM task. Cognitive paradigms taping alternative neural networks (e.g., orbitofrontal cortex) particularly relevant to OCD, are warranted in the search for potential distinctive brain activation patterns of the schizo-obsessive subgroup.

Brain Activation During Response Interference in Twins Discordant or Concordant for Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 372-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anouk den Braber ◽  
Dennis van ‘t Ent ◽  
Danielle C. Cath ◽  
Dick J. Veltman ◽  
Dorret I. Boomsma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Monozygotic Twin ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms ◽  
Response Interference ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal

One of the core behavioral features associated with obsessive compulsive symptomatology is the inability to inhibit thoughts and/or behaviors. Neuroimaging studies have indicated abnormalities in frontostriatal and dorsolateral prefrontal – anterior cingulate circuits during inhibitory control in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder compared with controls. In the present study, task performance and brain activation during Stroop color-word and Flanker interference were compared within monozygotic twin pairs discordant for obsessive compulsive symptoms and between groups of pairs scoring very low or very high on obsessive compulsive symptoms, in order to examine the differential impact of non-shared environmental versus genetic risk factors for obsessive compulsive symptomatology on inhibitory control related functional brain activation. Although performance was intact, brain activation during inhibition of distracting information differed between obsessive compulsive symptom high-scoring compared to low-scoring subjects. Regions affected in the discordant group (e.g., temporal and anterior cingulate gyrus) were partly different from those observed to be affected in the concordant groups (e.g., parietal gyrus and thalamus). A robust increase in dorsolateral prefrontal activity during response interference was observed in both the high-scoring twins of the discordant sample and the high-scoring twins of the concordant sample, marking this structure as a possible key region for disturbances in inhibitory control in obsessive compulsive disorder.

Metabolic abnormality in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder: proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 164-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shin-Eui Park ◽  
Nam-Gil Choi ◽  
Gwang-Woo Jeong
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Proton Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ◽  
Resonance Spectroscopy ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
The Right

ObjectiveProton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) was used to evaluate metabolic changes in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD).MethodsIn total, 14 OCD patients (mean age 28.9±7.2 years) and 14 healthy controls (mean age 32.6±7.1 years) with no history of neurological and psychiatric illness participated in this study. Brain metabolite concentrations were measured from a localised voxel on the right DLPFC using a 3-Tesla 1H-MRS.ResultsThe metabolic concentration of myo-inositol in patients with OCD increased significantly by 52% compared with the healthy controls, whereas glutamine/glutamate was decreased by 11%. However, there were no significant differences in N-acetylaspartate, choline, lactate and lipid between the two groups.ConclusionThese findings would be helpful to understand the pathophysiology of OCD associated with the brain metabolic abnormalities in the right DLPFC.

scholarly journals Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) Consequences on Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Reducing the Symptoms of the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sina Shafiezadeh ◽  
◽  
Atiyeh Mohammadshirazi ◽  
Mansoureh Eshghi ◽  
Zahra Dokhaei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Direct Current ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Sham Group ◽  
P Value ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Left Dlpfc ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
The Right

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is one of the most prevalent debilitating mental disorders that has a general rate of 2 to 3 percent prevalence. Previous studies indicated that there are abnormalities in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of OCD patients, so we decided to use transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to decline the symptoms of these patients. A total number of 24 OCD patients participated in this study with the hope of improvement after the application of tDCS. The subjects were randomly assigned into three groups as Sham, Right DLPFC, and Left DLPFC tDCS, and tDCS were applied for 5 consecutive days as in each session. The protocol was 2 mA current flow for two 15 minutes lasting period following by a 10 minutes rest in between (every session lasts for 40 minutes). Subsequently, the changes in obsessive-compulsive level and depression, anxiety, and stress followed that were evaluated via Yale-Brown and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21) tests by comparing the results of pre-experiment and post-experiment. Ultimately, the results of the Yale-Brown test which evaluates OCD symptoms in Right DLPFC shows significant changes that have occurred after intervention with tDCS (average difference of the Right DLPFC with sham group -6.18 and P-value ≤ 0.01, and for the Left DLPFC with sham group 3.155 and P-value ≥ 0.05). The average DASS scores of pre and post-experiment in the Left DLPFC were -4.63, in the Right DLPFC was -6.62, and in the sham group was -5.13 subsequently. Hereupon, this study demonstrates that tDCS may cause improvements in OCD symptoms.

scholarly journals Differential patterns of brain activation between hoarding disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder during executive performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 666-673
Author(s):  
Maria Suñol ◽  
Ignacio Martínez-Zalacaín ◽  
Maria Picó-Pérez ◽  
Clara López-Solà ◽  
Eva Real ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Error Processing ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Hoarding Disorder ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Executive Performance ◽  
Response Switching ◽  
The Right

AbstractBackgroundPreliminary evidence suggests that hoarding disorder (HD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) may show distinct patterns of brain activation during executive performance, although results have been inconclusive regarding the specific neural correlates of their differential executive dysfunction. In the current study, we aim to evaluate differences in brain activation between patients with HD, OCD and healthy controls (HCs) during response inhibition, response switching and error processing.MethodsWe assessed 17 patients with HD, 18 patients with OCD and 19 HCs. Executive processing was assessed inside a magnetic resonance scanner by means of two variants of a cognitive control protocol (i.e. stop- and switch-signal tasks), which allowed for the assessment of the aforementioned executive domains.ResultsOCD patients performed similar to the HCs, differing only in the number of successful go trials in the switch-signal task. However, they showed an anomalous hyperactivation of the right rostral anterior cingulate cortex during error processing in the switch-signal task. Conversely, HD patients performed worse than OCD and HC participants in both tasks, showing an impulsive-like pattern of response (i.e. shorter reaction time and more commission errors). They also exhibited hyperactivation of the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex during successful response switching and abnormal deactivation of frontal regions during error processing in both tasks.ConclusionsOur results support that patients with HD and OCD present dissimilar cognitive profiles, supported by distinct neural mechanisms. Specifically, while alterations in HD resemble an impulsive pattern of response, patients with OCD present increased error processing during response conflict protocols.

scholarly journals Distinct Effects of Social Stress on Working Memory in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qianqian Li ◽  
Jun Yan ◽  
Jinmin Liao ◽  
Xiao Zhang ◽  
Lijun Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Supplementary Motor Area ◽  
Motor Area ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
The Right

Abstract Stress might exaggerate the compulsion and impair the working memory of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This study evaluated the effect of stress on the cognitive neural processing of working memory in OCD and its clinical significance using a “number calculation working memory” task. Thirty-eight patients and 55 gender- and education-matched healthy controls were examined. Stress impaired the performance of the manipulation task in patients. Healthy controls showed less engagement of the medial prefrontal cortex and striatum during the task under stress versus less stress, which was absent in the patients with OCD. The diagnosis × stress interaction effect was significant in the right fusiform, supplementary motor area, precentral cortex and caudate. The failure of suppression of the medial prefrontal cortex and striatum and stress-related hyperactivation in the right fusiform, supplementary motor area, precentral cortex, and caudate might be an OCD-related psychopathological and neural response to stress.

scholarly journals Disentangling Within- and Between-Person Effects During Response Inhibition in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pernille Hagland ◽  
Anders Lillevik Thorsen ◽  
Olga Therese Ousdal ◽  
Rolf Gjestad ◽  
Stella J. de Wit ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Response Inhibition ◽  
Symptom Severity ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Exposure And Response Prevention ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
The Right ◽  
Over Time

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been related to worse performance, abnormal brain activity, and functional connectivity during response inhibition. Whether these findings are indications of stable traits that contribute to the development of the disorder, or whether they are a result of the state severity of obsessions and anxiety, remains unclear since previous research mainly has employed cross-sectional designs. The present study aimed to assess longitudinal between- and within-person relationships between symptoms, task performance, right inferior frontal gyrus brain activation, and connectivity between the right amygdala and the right pre-supplementary motor area in 29 OCD patients before and after concentrated exposure and response prevention treatment.Method: Patients received exposure and response prevention delivered during 4 consecutive days, following the Bergen 4-day Treatment format. Patients performed a Stop Signal Task during 3T functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging the day before treatment, as well as 1 week and 3 months after treatment completion. Multilevel models were used to analyze disaggregated within- and between-person effects over time. Independent variables were scores on the symptom severity scales for OCD, anxiety, depression, and state distress during scanning. Dependent variables were reaction time for go trials, stop signal response time, task-related brain activation and connectivity.Results: A positive between-person effect was found for obsessive-compulsive, anxiety, and depressive symptom severity on go trial reaction time, indicating that patients with higher symptom scores on average respond slower during accurate go trials. We also found no significant between- or within-person relations between symptom severity and task-related activation or fronto-limbic connectivity.Conclusions: The between-person findings may point toward a general association between slower processing speed and symptom severity in OCD. Longitudinal studies should disaggregate between- and within-person effects to better understand variation over time.

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