Faculty Opinions recommendation of Influence of the COMT genotype on working memory and brain activity changes during development.

Abstract. It has been generally accepted that skipping breakfast adversely affects cognition, mainly disturbing the attentional processes. However, the effects of short-term fasting upon brain functioning are still unclear. We aimed to evaluate the effect of skipping breakfast on cognitive processing by studying the electrical brain activity of young healthy individuals while performing several working memory tasks. Accordingly, the behavioral results and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) of 20 healthy university students (10 males) were obtained and compared through analysis of variances (ANOVAs), during the performance of three n-back working memory (WM) tasks in two morning sessions on both normal (after breakfast) and 12-hour fasting conditions. Significantly fewer correct responses were achieved during fasting, mainly affecting the higher WM load task. In addition, there were prolonged reaction times with increased task difficulty, regardless of breakfast intake. ERP showed a significant voltage decrement for N200 and P300 during fasting, while the amplitude of P200 notably increased. The results suggest skipping breakfast disturbs earlier cognitive processing steps, particularly attention allocation, early decoding in working memory, and stimulus evaluation, and this effect increases with task difficulty.

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Resting‐State EEG Microstates Parallel Age‐Related Differences in Allocentric Spatial Working Memory Performance

Brain Topography ◽

10.1007/s10548-021-00835-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Adeline Jabès ◽

Giuliana Klencklen ◽

Paolo Ruggeri ◽

Christoph M. Michel ◽

Pamela Banta Lavenex ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Working Memory ◽

Resting State ◽

Cognitive Aging ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Spatial Working Memory ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Age Related

AbstractAlterations of resting-state EEG microstates have been associated with various neurological disorders and behavioral states. Interestingly, age-related differences in EEG microstate organization have also been reported, and it has been suggested that resting-state EEG activity may predict cognitive capacities in healthy individuals across the lifespan. In this exploratory study, we performed a microstate analysis of resting-state brain activity and tested allocentric spatial working memory performance in healthy adult individuals: twenty 25–30-year-olds and twenty-five 64–75-year-olds. We found a lower spatial working memory performance in older adults, as well as age-related differences in the five EEG microstate maps A, B, C, C′ and D, but especially in microstate maps C and C′. These two maps have been linked to neuronal activity in the frontal and parietal brain regions which are associated with working memory and attention, cognitive functions that have been shown to be sensitive to aging. Older adults exhibited lower global explained variance and occurrence of maps C and C′. Moreover, although there was a higher probability to transition from any map towards maps C, C′ and D in young and older adults, this probability was lower in older adults. Finally, although age-related differences in resting-state EEG microstates paralleled differences in allocentric spatial working memory performance, we found no evidence that any individual or combination of resting-state EEG microstate parameter(s) could reliably predict individual spatial working memory performance. Whether the temporal dynamics of EEG microstates may be used to assess healthy cognitive aging from resting-state brain activity requires further investigation.

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Brain hemodynamic response in Examiner–Examinee dyads during spatial short-term memory task: an fNIRS study

Experimental Brain Research ◽

10.1007/s00221-021-06073-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Francesco Panico ◽

Stefania De Marco ◽

Laura Sagliano ◽

Francesca D’Olimpio ◽

Dario Grossi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Processes ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Spatial Working Memory ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Memory Task ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

The Real

AbstractThe Corsi Block-Tapping test (CBT) is a measure of spatial working memory (WM) in clinical practice, requiring an examinee to reproduce sequences of cubes tapped by an examiner. CBT implies complementary behaviors in the examiners and the examinees, as they have to attend a precise turn taking. Previous studies demonstrated that the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) is activated during CBT, but scarce evidence is available on the neural correlates of CBT in the real setting. We assessed PFC activity in dyads of examiner–examinee participants while completing the real version of CBT, during conditions of increasing and exceeding workload. This procedure allowed to investigate whether brain activity in the dyads is coordinated. Results in the examinees showed that PFC activity was higher when the workload approached or reached participants’ spatial WM span, and lower during workload conditions that were largely below or above their span. Interestingly, findings in the examiners paralleled the ones in the examinees, as examiners’ brain activity increased and decreased in a similar way as the examinees’ one. In the examiners, higher left-hemisphere activity was observed suggesting the likely activation of non-spatial WM processes. Data support a bell-shaped relationship between cognitive load and brain activity, and provide original insights on the cognitive processes activated in the examiner during CBT.

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Treatment effects on brain activity during a working memory task in obstructive sleep apnea

Journal of Sleep Research ◽

10.1111/j.1365-2869.2009.00755.x ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 404-410 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

MARK S. ALOIA ◽

LAWRENCE H. SWEET ◽

BETH A. JERSKEY ◽

MOLLY ZIMMERMAN ◽

JOHN TODD ARNEDT ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Obstructive Sleep Apnea ◽

Sleep Apnea ◽

Treatment Effects ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Memory Task ◽

Obstructive Sleep

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Effects of Acute Dopamine Precusor Depletion on Immediate Reward Selection Bias and Working Memory Depend on Catechol-O-methyltransferase Genotype

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_00464 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 25 (12) ◽

pp. 2061-2071 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Mary Katherine Kelm ◽

Charlotte A. Boettiger

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Individual Differences ◽

Selection Bias ◽

Intertemporal Choice ◽

Cycle Phase ◽

Comt Genotype ◽

Double Blind ◽

Acute Changes ◽

Reward Bias ◽

Age Range

Little agreement exists as to acute dopamine (DA) manipulation effects on intertemporal choice in humans. We previously found that catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met genotype predicts individual differences in immediate reward selection bias among adults. Moreover, we and others have shown that the relationship between COMT genotype and immediate reward bias is inverted in adolescents. No previous pharmacology studies testing DA manipulation effects on intertemporal choice have accounted for COMT genotype, and many have included participants in the adolescent age range (18–21 years) as adults. Moreover, many studies have included female participants without strict cycle phase control, although recent evidence demonstrates that cyclic estradiol elevations interact with COMT genotype to affect DA-dependent cognition. These factors may have interacted with DA manipulations in past studies, potentially occluding detection of effects. Therefore, we predicted that, among healthy male adults (ages 22–40 years), frontal DA tone, as indexed by COMT genotype, would interact with acute changes in DA signaling to affect intertemporal choice. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled design, we decreased central DA via administration of an amino acid beverage deficient in the DA precursors, phenylalanine and tyrosine, and tested effects on immediate reward bias in a delay-discounting (DD) task and working memory (WM) in an n-back task. We found no main effect of beverage on DD or WM performance but did find significant beverage*genotype effects. These results suggest that the effect of DA manipulations on DD depends on individual differences in frontal DA tone, which may have impeded some past efforts to characterize DA's role in immediate reward bias in humans.

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Brain Activity Elicited by Emotional Stimuli During a Verbal Working Memory Task: A Comparison of Healthy Adults and Patients with Chronic Schizophrenia

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/s1053-8119(09)71772-0 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. S166

Author(s):

MT Diaz ◽

G He ◽

S Gadde ◽

C Bellion ◽

A Belger ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Memory Task ◽

Verbal Working Memory ◽

Chronic Schizophrenia ◽

Healthy Adults ◽

Emotional Stimuli

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208 – A simultaneous fMRI and EEG investigation of coordination of brain activity during a working memory task in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia Research ◽

10.1016/j.schres.2007.12.275 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 98 ◽

pp. 119

Author(s):

P.K. Mallikarjun ◽

A. Diukova ◽

J. Cahill ◽

D. Auer ◽

P.F. Liddle

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Memory Task

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Pregnancy-related hormones and COMT genotype: Associations with maternal working memory

Psychoneuroendocrinology ◽

10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105361 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 105361

Author(s):

Rita Amiel Castro ◽

Theodora Kunovac Kallak ◽

Inger Sundström Poromaa ◽

Mimmie Willebrand ◽

Susanne Lager ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Comt Genotype

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Contributions of Brain Function and Structure to Three Different Domains of Cognitive Control in Normal Aging

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01685 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-22

Author(s):

Jenny R. Rieck ◽

Giulia Baracchini ◽

Cheryl L. Grady

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Control ◽

Task Performance ◽

Brain Structure ◽

Functional Activity ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Diffusion Imaging ◽

Normal Aging ◽

Control Mechanisms ◽

And Task

Cognitive control involves the flexible allocation of mental resources during goal-directed behavior and comprises three correlated but distinct domains—inhibition, shifting, and working memory. The work of Don Stuss and others has demonstrated that frontal and parietal cortices are crucial to cognitive control, particularly in normal aging, which is characterized by reduced control mechanisms. However, the structure–function relationships specific to each domain and subsequent impact on performance are not well understood. In the current study, we examined both age and individual differences in functional activity associated with core domains of cognitive control in relation to fronto-parietal structure and task performance. Participants ( N = 140, aged 20–86 years) completed three fMRI tasks: go/no-go (inhibition), task switching (shifting), and n-back (working memory), in addition to structural and diffusion imaging. All three tasks engaged a common set of fronto-parietal regions; however, the contributions of age, brain structure, and task performance to functional activity were unique to each domain. Aging was associated with differences in functional activity for all tasks, largely in regions outside common fronto-parietal control regions. Shifting and inhibition showed greater contributions of structure to overall decreases in brain activity, suggesting that more intact fronto-parietal structure may serve as a scaffold for efficient functional response. Working memory showed no contribution of structure to functional activity but had strong effects of age and task performance. Together, these results provide a comprehensive and novel examination of the joint contributions of aging, performance, and brain structure to functional activity across multiple domains of cognitive control.

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