Abstract
Recent investigations addressing the role of the synaptic multiadaptor molecule AKAP5 in human emotion and behavior suggest that the AKAP5 Pro100Leu polymorphism (rs2230491) contributes to individual differences in affective control. Carriers of the less common Leu allele show a higher control of anger as indicated by behavioral measures and dACC brain response on emotional distracters when compared to Pro homozygotes. In the current fMRI study we used an emotional working memory task according to the n-back scheme with neutral and negative emotional faces as target stimuli. Pro homozygotes showed a performance advantage at the behavioral level and exhibited enhanced activation of the amygdala and fusiform face area during working memory for emotional faces. On the other hand, Leu carriers exhibited increased activation of the dACC during performance of the 2-back condition. Our results suggest that AKAP5 Pro100Leu effects on emotion processing might be task-dependent with Pro homozygotes showing lower control of emotional interference, but more efficient processing of task-relevant emotional stimuli.
Highlights
Over the past decade, a growing number of studies have made use of genetics to characterize molecular influences on cognition and behavior, thereby contributing new insights on individual differences
The use of functional neuroimaging has elucidated the neural mechanisms that mediate the influence of specific genes on cognitive processing by linking genetic variations to individual differences in activation patterns of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and associated neural circuits [1,8]
Previous behavioral and neuroimaging studies of emotional processing have emphasized the role of serotonergic signaling [4,9,10,11], while investigations of genetic influences on executive functions have focused on molecular determinants of prefrontal dopamine, catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) with its well-studied single nucleotide polymorphism Val108/ 158Met [1,6]
Summary
A growing number of studies have made use of genetics to characterize molecular influences on cognition and behavior, thereby contributing new insights on individual differences. The use of functional neuroimaging has elucidated the neural mechanisms that mediate the influence of specific genes on cognitive processing by linking genetic variations to individual differences in activation patterns of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and associated neural circuits [1,8]. The term emotion regulation has been used to describe a component of the complex interplay of cognitive and emotional processes, namely the control of emotions by different cognitive strategies [12]. These modulation processes are mediated by PFCamygdala interactions [13,14,15,16]. High cognitive effort during emotion regulation was associated with reduced activity in the amygdala and the ventral striatum, which was mediated by different prefrontal regions [14]
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