title: COMT and DRD2/ANKK-1 gene-gene interaction account for resetting of gamma neural oscillations to auditory stimulus-driven attention.
abstract: Attention capture by potentially relevant environmental stimuli is critical for human survival, yet it varies considerably among individuals. A large series of studies has suggested that attention capture may depend on the cognitive balance between maintenance and manipulation of mental representations and the flexible switch between goal-directed representations and potentially relevant stimuli outside the focus of attention; a balance that seems modulated by a prefrontostriatal dopamine pathway. Here, we examined inter-individual differences in the cognitive control of attention through studying the effects of two single nucleotide polymorphisms regulating dopamine at the prefrontal cortex and the striatum (i.e., COMTMet108/158Val and ANKK1/DRD2TaqIA) on stimulus-driven attention capture. Healthy adult participants (N = 40) were assigned to different groups according to the combination of the polymorphisms COMTMet108/158Val and ANKK1/DRD2TaqIA, and were instructed to perform on a well-established distraction protocol. Performance in individuals with a balance between prefrontal dopamine display and striatal receptor density was slowed down by the occurrence of unexpected distracting events, while those with a rather unbalanced dopamine activity were able maintain task performance with no time delay, yet at the expense of a slightly lower accuracy. This advantage, associated to their distinct genetic profiles, was paralleled by an electrophysiological mechanism of phase-resetting of gamma neural oscillation to the novel, distracting events. Taken together, the current results suggest that the epistatic interaction between COMTVal108/158Met and ANKK1/DRD2 TaqIa genetic polymorphisms lies at the basis of stimulus-driven attention capture.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Brainlab-Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Garcia-Garcia
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Brainlab-Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu (IR-SJD), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9966-9921
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Via
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Brainlab-Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zarnowiec
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Brainlab-Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu (IR-SJD), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Iria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: SanMiguel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Brainlab-Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu (IR-SJD), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Carles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Escera
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Brainlab-Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.|Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu (IR-SJD), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Immaculada C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Clemente
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002394:Catechol O-Methyltransferase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000502:physiology; D004843:Epistasis, Genetic; D005260:Female; D065818:Gamma Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C581293:DRD2 protein, human; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2; C588010:COMT protein, human; D002394:Catechol O-Methyltransferase; C489948:ANKK1 protein, human; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases