Executive Functions in Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder: State or Trait Deficits?

2006 ◽  
Vol 40 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 1031-1038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelley Bannon ◽  
Craig J. Gonsalvez ◽  
Rodney J. Croft ◽  
Philip M. Boyce
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Panic Disorder ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Set Shifting ◽  
Design Study ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder

Objective: Despite the neuropsychology literature providing reliable evidence of impaired executive functions in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), to date it has not been determined whether these deficits are trait-related (independent of symptomatology) or state-dependent (dependent on symptomatology). The current research examines the executive functions in OCD in a comprehensive manner and, for the first time, assesses the stability of these deficits over the developmental course of the disorder. Method: Using a cross-sectional design, Study 1 examined the executive functions (set shifting, inhibition, planning, verbal fluency and working memory) in 60 subjects (20 actively Symptomatic OCD, 20 Remitted OCD and 20 Panic Disorder). Using a longitudinal design, Study 2 reassessed a subsample of OCD subjects (participants in Study 1) once they reached remitted status. Results: Study 1 found that the OCD groups exhibited deficits in set shifting and inhibition relative to Panic Disorder controls; however, no deficits were observed in planning, verbal fluency or working memory. There were no differences found between the Symptomatic and Remitted OCD groups on any of the executive function measures. Study 2 found that the identified executive function deficits in individuals were stable over time and remained unchanged despite symptom remittance. Conclusion: Current results confirm the presence of specific executive function deficits in OCD, and indicate that these deficits are trait-like in nature.

Cognitive functioning in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a meta-analysis

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 1121-1130 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Y. Shin ◽  
T. Y. Lee ◽  
E. Kim ◽  
J. S. Kwon
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Confounding Factors ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Pubmed Database

BackgroundSubstantial empirical evidence has indicated impairment in the cognitive functioning of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) despite inconsistencies. Although several confounding factors have been investigated to explain the conflicting results, the findings remain mixed. This study aimed to investigate cognitive dysfunction in patients with OCD using a meta-analytic approach.MethodThe PubMed database was searched between 1980 and October 2012, and reference lists of review papers were examined. A total of 221 studies were identified, of which 88 studies met inclusion criteria. Neuropsychological performance and demographic and clinical variables were extracted from each study.ResultsPatients with OCD were significantly impaired in tasks that measured visuospatial memory, executive function, verbal memory and verbal fluency, whereas auditory attention was preserved in these individuals. The largest effect size was found in the ability to recall complex visual stimuli. Overall effect estimates were in the small to medium ranges for executive function, verbal memory and verbal fluency. The effects of potentially confounding factors including educational level, symptom severity, medication status and co-morbid disorders were not significant.ConclusionsPatients with OCD appear to have wide-ranging cognitive deficits, although their impairment is not so large in general. The different test forms and methods of testing may have influenced the performance of patients with OCD, indicating the need to select carefully the test forms and methods of testing used in future research. The effects of various confounding variables on cognitive functioning need to be investigated further and to be controlled before a definite conclusion can be made.

Impaired executive functions in paediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder patients

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 272-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasemen Isık Taner ◽  
Emel Erdogan Bakar ◽  
Ozgur Oner
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Verbal Fluency Test ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Paediatric Patients ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Fluency Test

Isık Taner Y, Erdogan Bakar E, Oner O. Impaired executive functions in paediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder patients.Objective: There are only few studies which investigated the neuropsychological performances of paediatric patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Previous studies show that most of adult OCD patients had an onset of their first symptoms before the age of 15. Our objective was to evaluate the neuropsychological functions in paediatric patients with OCD.Methods: We compared the executive functions and general intelligence of child and adolescent OCD patients (n = 20) with age- and gender-matched healthy controls (n = 20). To compare mentioned skills, a neuropsychological test battery including Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Stroop Test and Verbal Fluency Test was performed.Result: Performances of the OCD and control subjects on neuropsychological tests were statistically analysed by using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), in which Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ) results were taken into consideration as a covariate to observe FSIQ's effect on test scores. Our results showed that the differences in WISC-R Picture Arrangement and Coding scores remained significant when co-analysed with FSIQ scores. In a similar manner, the OCD group exhibited worse performances on STR1-duration, STR3-duration, STR3-error, STR4-duration, STR4-error, STR5-correct response, and STR5-error as compared with the control group when FSIQ scores were taken into calculation. Some variables of the WCST (perseverative responses, percent errors, abstraction-flexibility and categories completed) also yield lower test scores in the OCD group. There was no significant difference between the groups regarding Verbal Fluency Test scores.Conclusion: Our results suggested that paediatric OCD patients had worse abstraction-flexibility, mental set-shifting, verbal comprehension and visuospatial/construction abilities.

scholarly journals Executive function in Tourette's syndrome and obsessive–compulsive disorder

2004 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 571-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
LAURA H. WATKINS ◽  
BARBARA J. SAHAKIAN ◽  
MARY M. ROBERTSON ◽  
DAVID M. VEALE ◽  
ROBERT D. ROGERS ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Tourette’S Syndrome ◽  
Cognitive Tests ◽  
Set Shifting ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Spatial Recognition

Background. Cognitive performance was compared in the genetically and neurobiologically related disorders of Tourette's syndrome (TS) and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), in three domains of executive function: planning, decision-making and inhibitory response control.Method. Twenty TS patients, twenty OCD patients and a group of age- and IQ-matched normal controls completed psychometric and computerized cognitive tests and psychiatric rating scales. The cognitive tests were well-characterized in terms of their sensitivity to other fronto-striatal disorders, and included pattern and spatial recognition memory, attentional set-shifting, and a Go/No-go set-shifting task, planning, and decision-making.Results. Compared to controls, OCD patients showed selective deficits in pattern recognition memory and slower responding in both pattern and spatial recognition, impaired extra-dimensional shifting on the set-shifting test and impaired reversal of response set on the Go/No-go test. In contrast, TS patients were impaired in spatial recognition memory, extra-dimensional set-shifting, and decision-making. Neither group was impaired in planning. Direct comparisons between the TS and OCD groups revealed significantly different greater deficits for recognition memory latency and Go/No-go reversal for the OCD group, and quality of decision-making for the TS group.Conclusions. TS and OCD show both differences (recognition memory, decision-making) and similarities (set-shifting) in selective profiles of cognitive function. Specific set-shifting deficits in the OCD group contrasted with their intact performance on other tests of executive function, such as planning and decision-making, and suggested only limited involvement of frontal lobe dysfunction, possibly consistent with OCD symptomatology.

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

2015 ◽  
Vol 265 (8) ◽  
pp. 707-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Maria Martoni ◽  
Giulia Salgari ◽  
Elisa Galimberti ◽  
Maria Cristina Cavallini ◽  
Joseph O’Neill
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Visuospatial Working Memory ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder

scholarly journals Divergent subcortical activity for distinct executive functions: stopping and shifting in obsessive compulsive disorder

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 829-840 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Morein-Zamir ◽  
V. Voon ◽  
C. M. Dodds ◽  
A. Sule ◽  
J. van Niekerk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Symptom Expression ◽  
State Variables ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
And Gender

BackgroundThere is evidence of executive function impairment in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) that potentially contributes to symptom development and maintenance. Nevertheless, the precise nature of these executive impairments and their neural basis remains to be defined.MethodWe compared stopping and shifting, two key executive functions previously implicated in OCD, in the same task using functional magnetic resonance imaging, in patients with virtually no co-morbidities and age-, verbal IQ- and gender-matched healthy volunteers. The combined task allowed direct comparison of neural activity in stopping and shifting independent of patient sample characteristics and state variables such as arousal, learning, or current symptom expression.ResultsBoth OCD patients and controls exhibited right inferior frontal cortex activation during stopping, and left inferior parietal cortex activation during shifting. However, widespread under-activation across frontal-parietal areas was found in OCD patients compared to controls for shifting but not stopping. Conservative, whole-brain analyses also indicated marked divergent abnormal activation in OCD in the caudate and thalamus for these two cognitive functions, with stopping-related over-activation contrasting with shift-related under-activation.ConclusionsOCD is associated with selective components of executive function, which engage similar common elements of cortico-striatal regions in different abnormal ways. The results implicate altered neural activation of subcortical origin in executive function abnormalities in OCD that are dependent on the precise cognitive and contextual requirements, informing current theories of symptom expression.

scholarly journals Shared executive dysfunctions in unaffected relatives of patients with autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder

2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Delorme ◽  
Véronique Goussé ◽  
Isabelle Roy ◽  
Anca Trandafir ◽  
Flavie Mathieu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
First Degree Relatives ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Design Fluency ◽  
Executive Dysfunctions

AbstractBackgroundExecutive dysfunctions have been studied as a potential endophenotype associated with the genetic basis of autism. Given that recent findings from clinical and molecular genetic studies suggest that autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) could share a common pattern of heritability, we assessed executive functions as a possible common cognitive endophenotype in unaffected family members of individuals with either autism or OCD.MethodsFive tests assessing executive functions (Tower of London, verbal fluency, design fluency, trail making and association fluency) were proposed to 58 unaffected first-degree relatives (parents and siblings) of probands with autism and 64 unaffected first-degree relatives of OCD patients. Results were compared with those of 47 healthy controls matched for age, sex, and level of education.ResultsIn the Tower of London test, both groups of unaffected relatives showed significantly lower scores and longer response times compared with controls. No differences were observed between autism and OCD relatives and healthy controls in the four other tasks (verbal fluency, design fluency, trail making test and association fluency).ConclusionsOur findings show the existence of executive dysfunction in the unaffected first-degree relatives of probands with OCD, similar to those observed in the relatives of patients with autism. These results support and extend previous cognitive studies on probands indicating executive dysfunctions in autism and OCD. Planning and working memory processes could thus represent a common cognitive endophenotype in autism and OCD that could help in the identification of genes conferring vulnerability to these disorders.

Modelling a Multi-Dimensional Model of Memory Performance in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Multi-Level Meta-Analytic Review.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Persson ◽  
Alan Yates ◽  
Klaus Kessler ◽  
Ben Harkin
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Driving Mechanism ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Analytic Review ◽  
Multi Level

Even though memory performance is a commonly researched aspect of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), a coherent and unified explanation of the role of specific cognitive factors has remained elusive. To address this, the present meta-analysis examined the predictive validity of Harkin and Kessler’s (2011) Executive Function (E), Binding Complexity (B) and Memory Load (L) Classification System with regards to affected vs. unaffected memory performance in OCD. We employed a multi-level meta-analytic approach (Viechtbauer, 2010) to accommodate the interdependent nature of the EBL model and interdependency of effect sizes (305 effect sizes from 144 studies, including 4424 OCD patients). Results revealed that the EBL model predicted memory performance, i.e., as EBL demand increases, those with OCD performed progressively worse on memory tasks. Executive function was the driving mechanism behind the EBL’s impact on OCD memory performance and negated effect size differences between visual and verbal tasks in those with OCD. Comparisons of sub-task effect sizes were also generally in accord with the cognitive parameters of the EBL taxonomy. We conclude that standardised coding of tasks along individual cognitive dimensions and multi-level meta-analyses provides a new approach to examine multi-dimensional models of memory and cognitive performance in OCD and other disorders.

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