Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients are impaired in remembering temporal order and in judging their own performance

J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2002 May;24(3):261-9. doi: 10.1076/jcen.24.3.261.986.

Abstract

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been related to frontostriatal dysfunction, but some inconsistencies between studies and a relative paucity of neuropsychological research still characterizes the study of OCD. We compared 28 patients with OCD and matched healthy controls on two neuropsychological tests sensitive to frontal dysfunction: temporal ordering and a "feeling-of-doing" (FOD) judgment about ordering. The OCD group performed significantly worse than controls in the temporal ordering task despite showing normal recognition memory. Patients were also impaired in "feeling-of-doing" judgments suggesting they have a lack of self-awareness of their performance. Thus, the results of the current study reinforces previous research that indicates that OCD patients fail on tasks that require adequate functioning of the frontal-striatal pathways.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Awareness / physiology*
  • Corpus Striatum / physiopathology
  • Female
  • Frontal Lobe / physiopathology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mental Recall / physiology*
  • Middle Aged
  • Neural Pathways / physiopathology
  • Neuropsychological Tests*
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / physiopathology*
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / psychology
  • Self-Assessment*
  • Serial Learning / physiology*
  • Verbal Learning / physiology