Procedural and declarative memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Abstract

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been associated with frontostriatal abnormality. This has led to the hypothesis that the disorder is characterized by abnormality of procedural memory. However, evidence for either procedural or declarative memory disturbance has been mixed, and few studies have directly assessed both of these forms of memory in the same patient group. In the present study, we assessed encoding and retrieval in declarative memory using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), and procedural memory using the Pursuit Rotor Task, in 27 adults with OCD and 29 matched healthy controls. Groups did not differ with respect to salient demographic characteristics or memory on the RAVLT. In contrast, patients with OCD performed significantly better than controls during the early, but not later trial blocks of the Pursuit Rotor Task. This pattern of results indicates intact encoding and retrieval in declarative memory, but abnormally enhanced procedural memory during the early course of learning in OCD. These findings may be consistent with striatal overactivation observed in neuroimaging studies of OCD, as well as the prominent role of the striatum during early stages of procedural memory.

Cognitive self-consciousness, implicit learning and obsessive–compulsive disorder

“…We used a single test of implicit learning and do not know if similar between-group differences would have been found with other procedural learning measures. Roth, Baribeau, Milovan, O'Connor, and Todorov (2004) failed to find procedural memory differences in OCD using the Pursuit Rotor Task. Further, we evaluated the relationship between implicit learning and a limited number of variables (i.e., CSC and depression).…”

Probing implicit learning in obsessive-compulsive disorder: Moderating role of medication on the weather prediction task

“…Several studies have shown a modest deficit in putative implicit learning tasks, including a serial reaction time task (SRT), (Deckersbach, 2002; Goldman, 2008; Kathmann, 2005; Marker, 2006) an implicit card betting task (Joel, 2005), and an implicit learning component in the Tower of Hanoi task (Cavedini, 2001). However, other studies employing implicit learning tasks, including the WPT (Exner, 2014) and pursuit rotor task (Roth, 2004), have shown no deficit. In the SRT, patients with OCD showed activation of the medial temporal lobe, while healthy controls showed activation of the inferior striatum (Rauch & Rosen, 1997; Rauch, 2007).…”

Neuropsychological Findings in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and its Potential Implications for Treatment

“…Several studies have investigated the implicit memory in patients with OCD [126][127][128][129][130]. Although most of them could not find any significant dysfunction, Rauch et al [128] observed that individuals with OCD "recruited" central nervous system structures normally involved in explicit learning (medial temporal lobes) during the performance of tasks of implicit learning and suggested that the systems underlying the functioning of the later (located in the lower striatum) might be impaired in these patients.…”