Forgetting what you have checked: a link between working memory impairment and checking behaviors in...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive psychology
• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Compulsive checking is a hallmark of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
• Previous research suggests a potential link between checking rituals and memory deficits in OCD patients.
• The relationship between working memory and checking behavior in OCD requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) exhibit working memory impairments.
• To determine the relationship between working memory capacity and checking behavior in OCD.

Main Methods:

• Working memory was assessed using verbal (reading span) and visuospatial (backward location span) tests.
• Checking behaviors were quantified by analyzing eye movements during an image comparison task using an eye-tracker.
• Participants included patients diagnosed with OCD and a control group.

Main Results:

• Patients with OCD demonstrated increased gaze shifts during image comparison compared to controls.
• A significant reduction in both verbal and visuospatial working memory spans was observed in OCD patients.
• The degree of impairment in the image comparison task correlated negatively with working memory spans in OCD patients.

Conclusions:

• Checking behaviors in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are associated with a generalized deficit in working memory.
• Both verbal and visuospatial working memory spans are reduced in individuals with OCD.
• Findings support the hypothesis that memory impairments contribute to compulsive checking in OCD.