The DRD2 C957T polymorphism and the attentional blink--a genetic association study

The attentional blink phenomenon (AB) describes a transient deficit in temporally selective visual attention regarding the processing of the second of two target stimuli in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task. The AB is a very prominent paradigm in the Cognitive Neurosciences that has been extensively studied by diverse psychophysiological techniques such as EEG or fMRI. Association studies from molecular genetics are scarce although the high heritability of higher cognitive functioning is proven. Only one seminal study reported an association between AB magnitude and the dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2) C957T polymorphism (Colzato et al., 2011). This functional polymorphism influences striatal D2 receptor binding affinity and thereby the efficacy of dopaminergic neurotransmission which is important for working memory and attentional processes. Colzato et al. (2011) reported that DRD2 C957T T/T-carriers exhibit a significant smaller AB than C-allele carriers. In the present study this influence of the DRD2 SNP on the AB could not be replicated in N=211 healthy participants. However, a significantly larger lag 1 sparing was observed for homozygous T/T-carriers. Moreover, carriers of at least one T-allele showed a significantly poorer performance in the identification of T1. In general, these results support the notion of a role of the dopaminergic system on the AB. However, as our results do not parallel previous findings the exact nature of this influence and its dependence on task parameters will have to be examined in further genetic association studies.