Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T18:12:03.305Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Neuropsychological Slowness in Obsessive–Compulsive Patients

Is It Confined to Tests Involving the Fronto-Subcortical Systems?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Silvana Galderisi ,
Armida Mucci ,
Francesco Catapano ,
Alessandro Colucci D'amato  and
Mario Maj
Silvana Galderisi*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Naples, Italy
Armida Mucci
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Naples, Italy
Francesco Catapano
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Naples, Italy
Alessandro Colucci D'amato
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Naples, Italy
Mario Maj
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Naples, Italy
*
Dr S. Galderisi, Department of Psychiatry, 80138 Naples, Largo Madonna delle Grazie, Italy
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Although it is acknowledged that obsessive-compulsive (OC) patients may be slower than healthy controls in performing neuropsychological tests, speed has usually been treated as a confounding variable. It is possible, however, that the slower performance of OC patients is itself the result of a dysfunction of specific neural circuits (in particular of fronto-subcortical systems).

Method

A neuropsychological battery including tests sensitive to fronto- and temporo-subcortical dysfunction was administered to a group of OC patients and a group of healthy controls. Each test provided independent indices of accuracy and speed.

Results

OC patients were significantly slower than controls only when performing tasks involving the fronto-subcortical systems, whereas they did not differ from controls with respect to accuracy indices.

Conclusion

It may be that neuropsychological slowness of OC patients is not merely an epiphenomenon of meticulous concern for correct test execution or intrusion of obsessive thoughts, but reflects the dysfunction of fronto-subcortical systems.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 167 , Issue 3 , September 1995 , pp. 394 - 398
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM–III–R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Baxter, L. R., Schwartz, J. M., Mazziotta, J. C., et al (1988) Cerebral glucose metabolic rates in nondepressed patients with obsessive compulsive disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 1560–1563.Google Scholar
Baxter, L. R., Schwartz, J. M., Bergman, K. S., et al (1992) Caudate glucose metabolic rate changes with both drug and behavior therapy for obsessive compulsive disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 49, 681–689.10.1001/archpsyc.1992.01820090009002Google Scholar
Boone, K. B., Ananth, J., Philpott, L., et al (1991) Neuropsychological characteristics of nondepressed adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology, and Behavioral Neurology, 4, 96–109.Google Scholar
Christensen, K. J., Kim, S. W., Dysken, M. W., et al (1992) Neuropsychological performance in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 31, 4–18.10.1016/0006-3223(92)90003-IGoogle Scholar
Cummings, J. L. (1986) Subcortical dementia: Neuropsychology, neuropsychiatry and pathophysiology. British Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 682–697.10.1192/bjp.149.6.682Google Scholar
Goodman, W. K., Price, L. H., Rasmussen, S. A., et al (1989) The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale: I. Development, use and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 1006–1011.10.1001/archpsyc.1989.01810110048007Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J., Seymur, K., Wilson, L., et al (1988) Impairments on neuropsychological tests of temporohippocampal and frontohippocampal functions and word fluency in remitting schizophrenia and affective disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 45, 623–629.10.1001/archpsyc.1988.01800310027003Google Scholar
Head, D., Bolton, D. & Hymas, N. (1989) Deficit in cognitive shifting ability in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 25, 929–937.10.1016/0006-3223(89)90272-2Google Scholar
Hodgson, R. J. & Rachman, S. (1977) Obsessional-compulsive complaints. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 15, 389–395.10.1016/0005-7967(77)90042-0Google Scholar
Insel, T. R., Donnelly, E. F., Lalakea, M. L., et al (1983) Neurological and neuropsychological studies of patients with obsessive compulsive disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 18, 741–751.Google Scholar
Khanna, S. (1988) Obsessive-compulsive disorder: is there a frontal lobe dysfunction? Biological Psychiatry, 24, 606–613.10.1016/0006-3223(88)90171-0Google Scholar
Kuskowski, M. A., Malone, S. M., Suck, W. K., et al (1993) Quantitative EEG in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 33, 423–430.10.1016/0006-3223(93)90170-IGoogle Scholar
Martinot, J., Allilaire, J., Mazoyer, B., et al (1990) Obsessive-compulsive disorder: a clinical, neuropsychological and positron emission tomography study. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 82, 233–243.10.1111/j.1600-0447.1990.tb03059.xGoogle Scholar
Milner, B. (1978) Clues to the cerebral organization of memory. In Cerebral Correlates of Conscious Experience (eds P. Buser & A. Rougeul-Buser), pp. 139–153. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Mishkin, M. & Petri, H. L. (1984) Memories and habits. In Neuropsychology of Memory (eds L. Squire & N. Butters), pp. 287–296. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Oldfield, R. C. (1971) The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh Inventory. Neuropsychologia, 9, 97–113.10.1016/0028-3932(71)90067-4Google Scholar
Petrides, M. (1985) Deficits on conditional associative-learning tasks after frontal- and temporal-lobe lesions in man. Neuropsychologia, 23, 601–614.10.1016/0028-3932(85)90062-4Google Scholar
Petrides, M. & Milner, B. (1982) Deficits on subject-ordered tasks after frontal- and temporal-lobe lesions in man. Neuropsychologia, 20, 249–262.10.1016/0028-3932(82)90100-2Google Scholar
Zielinski, C. M., Taylor, M. A. & Juzwin, K. R. (1991) Neuropsychological deficits in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology, and Behavioral Neurology, 4, 110–126.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.