The Study of Responsibility Effects on Memory Bias and Confidence in OCD Ptients with Checking Rituals

Considering the importance of memory problems in the development and maintenance of obsessive-compulsive disorder, the present study has been carried out with the goal of evaluating a number of memory functions in patients with the mentioned disorder. In order to study memory bias and confidence, and the effects of responsibility on them in patients with checking obsessions, 11 OCD patients with washing rituals, 7 patients with generalized anxiety disorder, and 10 normal individuals were examined in two responsibility conditions (high and low) for secure, insecure and neutral objects in three stages, using quasi-experimental method. Data were analyzed using MANOVA with repeated measures. OCD patients with checking rituals had memory bias to insecure objects recall (p<0.01). Also, regarding memory confidence, patients with checking rituals had lower confidence about their memory (p<0.05), which was more severe for insecure objects and high responsibility conditions (p<0.01). The number of times of task execution did not show a significant interactive effect. It seems that the most important problem of these patients is in the process of meta memory, where a low confidence to recalls plays the most important role in explaining the disorder. The results of the study support the development of a self perpetuating mechanism in checking OCD