Neurogenetics and Pharmacology of Learning, Motivation, and Cognition

Many of the individual differences in cognition, motivation, and learning—and the disruption of these processes in neurological conditions—are influenced by genetic factors. We provide an integrative synthesis across human and animal studies, focusing on a recent spate of evidence implicating a role...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuropsychopharmacology (New York, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2011-01, Vol.36 (1), p.133-152
Main Authors: Frank, Michael J, Fossella, John A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Animals
Behavioral Sciences
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Psychology
Cognition & reasoning
Cognition - physiology
Cognitive ability
Corpus Striatum - chemistry
Corpus Striatum - physiology
Dopamine
Dopamine - deficiency
Dopamine - genetics
Dopamine - metabolism
Dopamine and cAMP-Regulated Phosphoprotein 32 - genetics
Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins - genetics
Executive function
Genetic Variation - genetics
Humans
Influence
Learning
Learning - physiology
Medical sciences
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Memory
Motivation
Motivation - genetics
Neuropsychopharmacology Reviews
Neurosciences
Pharmacotherapy
Polymorphism, Genetic
Prefrontal Cortex - chemistry
Prefrontal Cortex - physiology
Psychiatry
Receptors, Dopamine D2 - genetics
Receptors, Dopamine D4 - genetics
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Summary:Many of the individual differences in cognition, motivation, and learning—and the disruption of these processes in neurological conditions—are influenced by genetic factors. We provide an integrative synthesis across human and animal studies, focusing on a recent spate of evidence implicating a role for genes controlling dopaminergic function in frontostriatal circuitry, including COMT , DARPP-32 , DAT1 , DRD2 , and DRD4 . These genetic effects are interpreted within theoretical frameworks developed in the context of the broader cognitive and computational neuroscience literature, constrained by data from pharmacological, neuroimaging, electrophysiological, and patient studies. In this framework, genes modulate the efficacy of particular neural computations, and effects of genetic variation are revealed by assays designed to be maximally sensitive to these computations. We discuss the merits and caveats of this approach and outline a number of novel candidate genes of interest for future study.
ISSN:0893-133X
1740-634X
DOI:10.1038/npp.2010.96