Investigation of Risky Decision Making and Visuospatial Working Memory in Subjects with Borderline Personality Traits

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Msc student in cognitive science, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University,Tabriz, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences & Psychology, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University,Tabriz, Iran.

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences & Psychology, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University,Tabriz, Iran.

Abstract

Background and Aims: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by an enduring pattern of abnormal behavior, cognition, and affect. Impulsivity is a core feature of borderline personality disorder. Individuals with BPD are most often explicitly aware of the deleterious long-term consequences of their impulsive behaviors, but still engage in them. Also, peoples with BPD exhibits deficits in cognitive functions including working memory. Due to the importance of decision-making and cognitive functions in daily activities, job Performance and academic achievement, investigation of risky decisions and working memory in people with borderline personality disorder is necessary. So, this study aimed to compare the risky decision making and visuospatial working memory in subjects with borderline personality traits and normal subjects.
Materials and Methods: This is a case-control study. In this regard, 25 college student with Borderline personality traits and 25 normal college students were chosen by borderline personality inventory (BPI), ), and then participants were evaluated with  Balloon Analogue Risk Task and Corsi Blocks Test. Data were analyzed using Multivariate analysis of variance(MANOVA) via SPSS 18.
Results: The results showed that there are significant difference between subjects with borderline personality traits and normal subjects in visuospatial working memory(p<0.0001), while subjects with borderline personality traits had no significant difference comparing to control group.(p=0.65).
Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that subjects with borderline personality traits show appropriate behavior in risky decision making, but they exhibit deficits in visuospatial working memory.

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