Genetic Contribution to Variation in Cognitive Function: An fMRI Study in Twins
Jan Willem Koten, Jr.,1,2*
Guilherme Wood,3
Peter Hagoort,4,7
Rainer Goebel,5,8
Peter Propping,6
Klaus Willmes,1
Dorret I. Boomsma2
Little is known about the genetic contribution to individual
differences in neural networks subserving cognition function.
In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) twin study,
we found a significant genetic influence on brain activation
in neural networks supporting digit working memory tasks. Participants
activating frontal-parietal networks responded faster than individuals
relying more on language-related brain networks. There were
genetic influences on brain activation in language-relevant
brain circuits that were atypical for numerical working memory
tasks as such. This suggests that differences in cognition might
be related to brain activation patterns that differ qualitatively
among individuals.
2 Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
3 Institute of Psychology, Paris-Lodron University Salzburg, Austria.
4 Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands.
5 Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Maastricht University, Netherlands.
6 Institute of Human Genetics, University of Bonn, Germany.
7 Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
8 Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Amsterdam, Netherlands.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jan.koten{at}gmx.de
