Nicotinic Receptor Gene CHRNA4 Interacts with Processing Load in Attention
Nicotinic Receptor Gene CHRNA4 Interacts with Processing Load in Attention
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0014407
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发表时间：
2010-12-22
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Laeng, Bruno
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Espeseth, Thomas;Sneve, Markus Handal;Laeng, Bruno
背景资料：药理学研究表明，胆碱能神经传递介导的注意力努力的增加，以响应高处理负荷期间的注意力要求的任务[1]。方法/主要发现：在本研究中，我们测试了CHRNA 4（编码人脑中α 4 b2烟碱受体亚组分的基因）的个体差异是否与人类大脑中α 4 b2烟碱受体亚组分的表达有关，在多目标跟踪（MOT）和视觉搜索（VS）中与处理负荷相互作用。我们假设基因型的影响会随着MOT任务中更大的处理负荷而增加。同样，我们预测，基因型会影响性能高，但不是低负荷下的VS任务。202名健康人（年龄范围= 39-77，平均值= 57.5，SD = 9.4）进行了MOT任务，其中12个相同的圆形物体以独立和不可预测的方式在显示器上移动。两到六个物体被指定为目标，其余的物体是分心物。同样的观察者也进行了视觉搜索的目标字母（即X或Z）与五个非目标，而忽略了中央呈现的干扰（即X，Z，或L）。在低负荷条件下，目标不同于非目标的独特功能，而在高负荷条件下，它们共享功能。CHRNA 4基因型与加工负荷在两个任务中相互作用。纯合子T等位基因（N = 62）有更好的跟踪能力，在MOT任务和确定目标更快的VS task.Conclusion高负荷试验：结果支持的假设，胆碱能系统调节注意力的努力，和共同的遗传变异可用于研究认知的分子生物学。
Background: Pharmacological studies suggest that cholinergic neurotransmission mediates increases in attentional effort in response to high processing load during attention demanding tasks [1].Methodology/ Principal Findings: In the present study we tested whether individual variation in CHRNA4, a gene coding for a subcomponent in alpha 4b2 nicotinic receptors in the human brain, interacted with processing load in multiple-object tracking (MOT) and visual search (VS). We hypothesized that the impact of genotype would increase with greater processing load in the MOT task. Similarly, we predicted that genotype would influence performance under high but not low load in the VS task. Two hundred and two healthy persons (age range = 39-77, Mean = 57.5, SD = 9.4) performed the MOT task in which twelve identical circular objects moved about the display in an independent and unpredictable manner. Two to six objects were designated as targets and the remaining objects were distracters. The same observers also performed a visual search for a target letter (i.e. X or Z) presented together with five non-targets while ignoring centrally presented distracters (i.e. X, Z, or L). Targets differed from non-targets by a unique feature in the low load condition, whereas they shared features in the high load condition. CHRNA4 genotype interacted with processing load in both tasks. Homozygotes for the T allele (N = 62) had better tracking capacity in the MOT task and identified targets faster in the high load trials of the VS task.Conclusion: The results support the hypothesis that the cholinergic system modulates attentional effort, and that common genetic variation can be used to study the molecular biology of cognition.