Associative learning profiles in Borderline Personality Disorder: Acquisition, Kamin blocking, and metacognitive performance

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with deficits in neuropsychological measures such as memory, cognitive flexibility, and learning. Mixed findings suggest that deficits may be specific to particular aspects of learning. This is the first study to examine Kamin blocking in a BPD sample. A sample of 51 female subjects (N = 24 control, N = 27 BPD) were recruited. Participants completed a learning task in three phases: a first acquisition phase to learn cue-outcome associations, a second pairing phase to set up blocked cues, and a third testing phase to measure the extent of blocking and to test reversal learning. Participants indicated choice and certainty at each trial, and received feedback immediately after each trial. In phase one, mean correctness but not learning rate was less in BPD than control. Participants with BPD were also less certain about their responses, which correlated positively with correctness – this correlation was not found for control subjects. Kamin blocking, maintenance of previous learning, and reversal learning did not differ between groups. These results cohere with the idea that learning deficits in BPD are in specific domains, including the novel finding that Kamin blocking is preserved in BPD. The significant correlation between certainty and correctness in BPD may hint at mechanisms underlying the maintenance of low mood.