Dissociable Catecholaminergic Modulation of Visual Attention: Differential Effects of Catechol-O-Methyltransferase and Dopamine Beta-Hydroxylase Genes on Visual Attention

Nir Shalev,Signe Vangkilde,Matt J Neville,Elizabeth M Tunbridge,Anna C Nobre,Magdalena Chechlacz

doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.05.068

Abstract

Visual attention enables us to prioritise behaviourally relevant visual information while ignoring distraction. The neural networks supporting attention are modulated by two catecholamines, dopamine and noradrenaline. The current study investigated the effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms in two catecholaminergic genes – COMT (Val158Met) and DBH (444 G/A) – on individual differences in attention functions. Participants (n = 125) were recruited from the Oxford Biobank by genotype-based recall. They were tested on a continuous performance task (sustained attention), a Go/No-Go task (response inhibition), and a task assessing attentional selection in accordance with the Theory of Visual Attention (TVA). We found a significant effect of DBH genotype status on the capacity to maintain attention over time (sustained attention) as measured by the continuous performance task. Furthermore, we demonstrated a significant association between COMT genotype status and effective threshold of visual perception in attentional selection as estimated based on the TVA task performance. No other group differences in attention function were found with respect to the studied genotypes. Overall, our findings provide novel experimental evidence that: (i) dopaminergic and noradrenergic genotypes have dissociable effects on visual attention; (ii) either insufficient or excessive catecholaminergic activity may have equally detrimental effects on sustained attention.

Highlights

The term ‘visual attention’ refers to the set of cognitive processes that enables an individual to stay focussed on the task at hand by selecting behaviourally relevant visual information while ignoring distractors (Posner, 1980; Nobre and Kastner, 2014)
It has been shown that functional polymorphisms in several dopaminergic and noradrenergic genes are associated with asymmetries of spatial attention, including lateralized target detection and distractor suppression, top-down control of attention, distractibility (e.g., DAT1, Holmboe et al, 2010), and sustained attention
The current study aimed to explore common and dissociable effects of catecholamines on visual attention by examining the impact of single nucleotide polymorphisms in two catecholaminergic genes – COMT (Val158Met) and DBH (444 G/A) – on inter-individual variability in performance on tasks measuring different aspects of attention function

Summary

Introduction

The term ‘visual attention’ refers to the set of cognitive processes that enables an individual to stay focussed on the task at hand by selecting behaviourally relevant visual information while ignoring distractors (Posner, 1980; Nobre and Kastner, 2014). A growing body of evidence suggests that distinct mechanisms of attention are differentially modulated by multiple neurotransmitters, including two catecholamines, dopamine and noradrenaline (for review see Posner, 2008; Marrocco and Davidson, 1998; Thiele and Bellgrove, 2018). The roles of dopamine and noradrenaline in attention have been investigated by means of human studies examining the association between functional single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and cognitive performance as well as different phenotypes symptomatic of attention disorders (e.g., Daly et al, 1999; Roman et al, 2002; Hawi et al, 2003; Bellgrove et al, 2005a; Bellgrove et al, 2005b; Bellgrove and Mattingley, 2008; Bellgrove et al, 2009). It has been shown that functional polymorphisms in several dopaminergic and noradrenergic genes are associated with asymmetries of spatial attention, including lateralized target detection and distractor suppression (e.g., dopamine transporter gene DAT1, Bellgrove et al, 2007; Greene et al, 2010; Newman et al, 2014; Newman et al, 2012; Zozulinsky et al, 2014; dopamine D2 receptor, Zozulinsky et al, 2014), top-down control of attention (e.g., catechol-Omethyltransferase COMT and DAT1, Schneider et al, 2015), distractibility (e.g., DAT1, Holmboe et al, 2010), and sustained attention (e.g., dopamine beta-hydroxylase DBH, Greene et al, 2009)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion