TY  - JOUR
A1  - Heinzel, Stephan
A1  - Riemer, Thomas G.
A1  - Schulte, Stefanie
A1  - Onken, Johanna
A1  - Heinz, Andreas
A1  - Rapp, Michael Armin
T1  - Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) genotype affects age-related changes in plasticity in working memory: a pilot study
JF  - BioMed research international
N2  - Objectives. Recent work suggests that a genetic variation associated with increased dopamine metabolism in the prefrontal cortex (catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met; COMT) amplifies age-related changes in working memory performance. Research on younger adults indicates that the influence of dopamine-related genetic polymorphisms on working memory performance increases when testing the cognitive limits through training. To date, this has not been studied in older adults. Method. Here we investigate the effect of COMT genotype on plasticity in working memory in a sample of 14 younger (aged 24-30 years) and 25 older (aged 60-75 years) healthy adults. Participants underwent adaptive training in the n-back working memory task over 12 sessions under increasing difficulty conditions. Results. Both younger and older adults exhibited sizeable behavioral plasticity through training (P < .001), which was larger in younger as compared to older adults (P < .001). Age-related differences were qualified by an interaction with COMT genotype (P < .001), and this interaction was due to decreased behavioral plasticity in older adults carrying the Val/Val genotype, while there was no effect of genotype in younger adults. Discussion. Our findings indicate that age-related changes in plasticity in working memory are critically affected by genetic variation in prefrontal dopamine metabolism.
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/414351
SN  - 2314-6133
SN  - 2314-6141
PB  - Hindawi Publishing Corp.
CY  - New York
ER  -