Genetic determinants of target and novelty-related event-related potentials in the auditory oddball response

Processing of novel and target stimuli in the auditory target detection or 'oddball' task encompasses the chronometry of perception, attention and working memory and is reflected in scalp recorded event-related potentials (ERPs). A variety of ERP components related to target and novelty processing have been described and extensively studied, and linked to deficits of cognitive processing. However, little is known about associations of genotypes with ERP endophenotypes. Here we sought to elucidate the genetic underpinnings of auditory oddball ERP components using a novel data analysis technique. A parallel independent component analysis of the electrophysiology and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data was used to extract relations between patterns of ERP components and SNP associations purely based on an analysis incorporating higher order statistics. The method allows for broader associations of genotypes with phenotypes than traditional hypothesis-driven univariate correlational analyses. We show that target detection and processing of novel stimuli are both associated with a shared cluster of genes linked to the adrenergic and dopaminergic pathways. These results provide evidence of genetic influences on normal patterns of ERP generation during auditory target detection and novelty processing at the SNP association level.