OCD Clinical and Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Bellvitge University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain.
Psychol Med. 2010 Dec;40(12):2001-11. doi: 10.1017/S0033291710000310. Epub 2010 Mar 10.
The same executive dysfunctions and alterations in neuroimaging tests (both functional and structural) have been found in obsessive-compulsive patients and their first-degree relatives. These neurobiological findings are considered to be intermediate markers of the disease. The aim of our study was to assess verbal and non-verbal memory in unaffected first-degree relatives, in order to determine whether these neuropsychological functions constitute a new cognitive marker for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Recall and use of organizational strategies in verbal and non-verbal memory tasks were measured in 25 obsessive-compulsive patients, 25 unaffected first-degree relatives and 25 healthy volunteers.
First-degree relatives and healthy volunteers did not show differences on most measures of verbal memory. However, during the recall and processing of non-verbal information, deficits were found in first-degree relatives and patients compared with healthy volunteers.
The presence of the same deficits in the execution of non-verbal memory tasks in OCD patients and unaffected first-degree relatives suggests the influence of certain genetic and/or familial factors on this cognitive function in OCD and supports the hypothesis that deficits in non-verbal memory tasks could be considered as cognitive markers of the disorder.
在强迫症患者及其一级亲属中，已经发现了相同的执行功能障碍和神经影像学测试（包括功能和结构）的改变。这些神经生物学发现被认为是疾病的中间标志物。我们的研究目的是评估未受影响的一级亲属的言语和非言语记忆，以确定这些神经心理学功能是否构成强迫症（OCD）的新认知标志物。
在 25 名强迫症患者、25 名未受影响的一级亲属和 25 名健康志愿者中，测量了言语和非言语记忆任务中的回忆和组织策略的使用情况。
一级亲属和健康志愿者在大多数言语记忆测量上没有差异。然而，在回忆和处理非言语信息时，一级亲属和患者与健康志愿者相比存在缺陷。
在强迫症患者和未受影响的一级亲属中执行非言语记忆任务时存在相同的缺陷，表明某些遗传和/或家族因素对强迫症患者的这种认知功能有影响，并支持非言语记忆任务缺陷可被视为该疾病的认知标志物的假说。
