title: Forgetting what you have checked: a link between working memory impairment and checking behaviors in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Compulsive checking behaviors are common in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Several authors have suggested that these checking rituals could be related to memory deficits. Our aim was to test whether patients with OCD show working memory impairment in relation to their checking behavior.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated the verbal and visuospatial components of patients' and controls' working memory using the reading span and backward location span tests. Checking behaviors were measured by recording participants' eye movements during an image comparison task using a non-invasive, infra-red TOBII 1750 eyetracker. Participants were seated, head-free, in a natural position in front of the eyetracker screen where the images were displayed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with OCD made more gaze moves to compare images than controls. Both patients' working memory spans were reduced, and the patients' deficit in the comparison task was negatively related to their working memory spans.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This work demonstrates that checking behavior in OCD is linked to a general reduction of the patients' verbal and visuospatial working memory span.
authors.affiliation: Unité de recherche clinique intersectorielle, centre hospitalier Henri-Laborit, 370, avenue Jacques-Cœur, 86021 Poitiers, France. n.jaafari@wanadoo.fr
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jaafari
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frasca
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rigalleau
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rachid
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.forename: J-P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Olié
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guehl
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Burbaud
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Aouizerate
authors.forename: J-Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Rotgé
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vibert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003192:Compulsive Behavior / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D010775:Photic Stimulation