Memory and strategic processing in first-degree relatives of obsessive compulsive patients C. Segala `s 1,5 *, P. Alonso 1,2,4 , E. Real 1 , A. Garcia 6 , A. Min ˜ ambres 7 , J. Labad 1 , A. Pertusa 1 , B. Bueno 1 , S. Jime ´nez-Murcia 1,3 and J. M. Mencho ´n 1,2,4 1 OCD Clinical and Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Bellvitge University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain 2 CIBERSAM (Centro de Investigacio ´n en Red de Salud Mental), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain 3 CIBEROBN (Ciber Fisiopatologia Obesidad y Nutricio ´n), Instituto Salud Carlos III, Spain 4 Department of Clinical Sciences, Bellvitge Campus, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain 5 Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain 6 Department of Mental Health, Centres Assistencials Dr. Emili Mira i Lo ´pez, Av. Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Barcelona, Spain 7 Hospital Sant Joan de De ´u – Serveis de Salut Mental, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain Background. 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). Method. 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. Results. 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. Conclusions. 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. Received 21 March 2009 ; Revised 19 January 2010 ; Accepted 26 January 2010 ; First published online 10 March 2010 Key words : Endophenotype, executive dysfunction, neuropsychology, non-verbal memory, obsessive-compulsive disorder, organizational strategies, verbal memory. Introduction Endophenotypes are neurophysiological, biochemical, endocrinological, neuroanatomical, cognitive or neuro- psychological phenomena that constitute intermediate markers of brain dysfunction. They are located be- tween clinical manifestations of the disease (pheno- type) and the distal genotype (Gottesman & Gould, 2003 ; Bearden & Freimer, 2006). Several recent studies of unaffected first-degree rela- tives (UFD), carried out by the same group, have analysed the existence of endophenotypes in obsess- ive-compulsive disorder (OCD). One of these studies (Chamberlain et al. 2007) showed that unaffected relatives of OCD probands presented deficits in cog- nitive flexibility and motor inhibition that were similar to those recorded in obsessive patients. Menzies et al. (2007) also found a significant association between impaired execution of the stop-signal test (a measure of motor inhibition) and certain structural alterations in the brain of OCD patients and relatives compared with healthy controls, such as grey matter reductions in orbitofrontal and right inferior frontal regions and grey matter increases in cingulate, parietal and striatal regions. Results using functional neuroimaging tech- niques have identified reduced activation of the lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) and parietal cortex during reversal learning in patients with OCD and their unaffected relatives (Chamberlain et al. 2008). Similarly, white matter ab- normalities in frontal and parietal regions have been * Address for correspondence : Dr C. Segala `s, Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitario de Bellvitge, c/ Feixa Llarga s/n, 08907 Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain (Email : csegalas@bellvitgehospital.cat) Psychological Medicine (2010), 40, 2001–2011. f Cambridge University Press 2010 doi:10.1017/S0033291710000310 ORIGINAL ARTICLE https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291710000310 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. CRAI de la Universitat de Barcelona, on 22 Mar 2021 at 15:26:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at