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Procedural and declarative memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2004

ROBERT M. ROTH ,
JACINTHE BARIBEAU ,
DENISE MILOVAN ,
KIERON O'CONNOR  and
CRISTO TODOROV
ROBERT M. ROTH
Affiliation:
Neuropsychology Program, Department of Psychiatry, Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, NH Centre de Recherche Fernand Seguin, Hopital Louis-H. Lafontaine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
JACINTHE BARIBEAU
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Human Neuropsychology and Neurophysiology, Département de Psychologie, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada Centre de Recherche Fernand Seguin, Hopital Louis-H. Lafontaine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
DENISE MILOVAN
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Centre de Recherche Fernand Seguin, Hopital Louis-H. Lafontaine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
KIERON O'CONNOR
Affiliation:
Centre de Recherche Fernand Seguin, Hopital Louis-H. Lafontaine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
CRISTO TODOROV
Affiliation:
Hopital Louis-H. Lafontaine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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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. (JINS, 2004, 10, 647–654.)

Keywords

OCDProcedural memoryDeclarative memoryStriatum
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 10 , Issue 5 , September 2004 , pp. 647 - 654
Copyright
2004 The International Neuropsychological Society

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