Is less really more: Does a prefrontal efficiency genotype actually confer better performance when working memory becomes difficult?

ABSTRACT: Perhaps the most widely studied effect to emerge from the combination of neuroimaging and human genetics is the association of the COMT-Val(108/158)Met polymorphism with prefrontal activity during working memory. COMT-Val is a putative risk factor in schizophrenia, which is characterized by disordered prefrontal function. Work in healthy populations has sought to characterize mechanisms by which the valine (Val) allele may lead to disadvantaged prefrontal cognition. Lower activity in methionine (Met) carriers has been interpreted as advantageous neural efficiency. Notably, however, studies reporting COMT effects on neural efficiency have generally not reported working memory performance effects. Those studies have employed relatively low/easy working memory loads. Higher loads are known to

SUBMITTER: Ihne JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7028246 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature