Abstract
Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is an enzyme that is particularly important for the metabolism of dopamine. Functional polymorphisms of COMT have been implicated in working memory and numerical cognition. This is an exploratory study that aims at investigating associations between COMT polymorphisms, working memory, and numerical cognition. Elementary school children from 2th to 6th grades were divided into two groups according to their COMT val158met polymorphism [homozygous for valine allele (n = 61) vs. heterozygous plus methionine homozygous children or met+ group (n = 94)]. Both groups were matched for age and intelligence. Working memory was assessed through digit span and Corsi blocks. Symbolic numerical processing was assessed through transcoding and single-digit word problem tasks. Non-symbolic magnitude comparison and estimation tasks were used to assess number sense. Between-group differences were found in symbolic and non-symbolic numerical tasks, but not in working memory tasks. Children in the met+ group showed better performance in all numerical tasks while val homozygous children presented slower development of non-symbolic magnitude representations. These results suggest COMT-related dopaminergic modulation may be related not only to working memory, as found in previous studies, but also to the development of magnitude processing and magnitude representations.
Highlights
Dopamine, a neurotransmitter of the monoaminergic catecholamine group, is engaged in several brain and cognitive functions
There is compelling evidence relating basic counting processes to dopamine concentration on the prefrontal cortex (PFC; Allman et al, 2012). Could it be that a more direct link between dopamine function and math achievement exists? In case there is a direct connection between dopamine and arithmetic performance, which aspects of numerical processing are more influenced by variability in dopamine bioavailability? In this article, we set out to explore Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) variability in the population as a clue to disentangle a hypothetical connection between dopamine bioavailability and numerical cognition
We examined the correlations between all numerical tasks for each of the allelic groups separately
Summary
A neurotransmitter of the monoaminergic catecholamine group, is engaged in several brain and cognitive functions. Dopamine is implicated in information processing in prefrontal-related working memory tasks (Dickinson and Elvevåg, 2009; Mier et al, 2010). Among other domains, working memory is important for numerical cognition (Geary, 1993; Rotzer et al, 2009; Geary et al, 2012). For this reason, dopamine determines performance in numerical tasks always when working memory is required. In case there is a direct connection between dopamine and arithmetic performance, which aspects of numerical processing are more influenced by variability in dopamine bioavailability? Could it be that a more direct link between dopamine function and math achievement exists? In case there is a direct connection between dopamine and arithmetic performance, which aspects of numerical processing are more influenced by variability in dopamine bioavailability? In this article, we set out to explore Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) variability in the population as a clue to disentangle a hypothetical connection between dopamine bioavailability and numerical cognition
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