Neurocognitive Mechanismus of Individual Differences: Genes, Brain, Personality and Cognition

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Even though working memory is one of the most-investigated fields of neurocognition, neural mechanisms underlying inter-individual differences in working memory capacity and higher cognitive abilities (intelligence, complex problem solving) are poorly understood. Three potential sources of variability may contribute to these higher cognitive abilities: variability in component processes of cognition, personality differences, and variability of dopamine neurotransmitter activity. This research project integrates these at present mostly unconnected research strands, and explores their relations and their contribution to higher cognition at a neurocognitive level. Parallel fMRI and MEG/EEG data will be acquired from a single large pool of individuals selected based on genotyping of a gene that modulates prefrontal dopamine concentrations. Neurocognitive markers (fMRI and MEG/EEGbrain activation, interregional functional connectivities, morphometry) of cognitive component processes underlying higher intellectual abilities will be isolated and then related to behavioral measures of higher cognition, personality, and COMT genotype using multi-variate statistics. This neurocognitive inter-individual differences approach will provide important insights into the biological mechanisms underlying normal variability in intellectual abilities in healthy adults. In addition, this work will provide a better neurocognitive basis for understanding brain disorders that lead to intellectual impairments.