School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-16-2010

Abstract

Working memory performance is significantly influenced by genetic factors. Here, we assessed genetic contributions to both working memory performance and neuroimaging measures focused on the network of brain regions associated with working memory by using a sample of 467 human participants from extended families. Imaging measures included diffusion tensor imaging indices in major white matter tracts thought to be associated with working memory and structural magnetic resonance imaging measures of frontal and parietal gray matter density. Analyses directly addressed whether working memory performance and neural structural integrity are influenced by common genetic factors (e.g., pleiotropy). While all cognitive measures, gray matter regions, and white matter tracts assessed were heritable, only performance on a spatial delayed response task and integrity of the superior longitudinal fasciculus (a primary fronto-parietal connection) shared genetic factors. As working memory may be a core component of other higher level processes, such as general intelligence, this finding has implications for the heritability of complex cognitive functions, as well as for our understanding of the transmission of cognitive deficits in mental and neurological disorders.

Comments

Copyright © 2010 the authors

Material published from 2010 to 2014 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-NC-SA)

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

First Page

8197

Last Page

202

Publication Title

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience

DOI

10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0359-10.2010

Academic Level

faculty

Mentor/PI Department

Office of Human Genetics

Download

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.