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Ebbinghaus revisited: influences of the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism on backward serial recall are modulated by human aging (2009)
| Venue: | J. Cogn. Neurosci |
| Citations: | 4 - 2 self |
BibTeX
@ARTICLE{Li09ebbinghausrevisited:,
author = {Shu-chen Li and Christian Chicherio and Lars Nyberg and Timo Von Oertzen and Irene E. Nagel and Goran Papenberg and Thomas S and Hauke R. Heekeren and Ulman Lindenberger and Lars Bäckman},
title = {Ebbinghaus revisited: influences of the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism on backward serial recall are modulated by human aging},
journal = {J. Cogn. Neurosci},
year = {2009}
}
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Abstract
■ The brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays an im-portant role in activity-dependent synaptic plasticity, which under-lies learning and memory. In a sample of 948 younger and older adults, we investigated whether a common Val66Met missense polymorphism (rs6265) in the BDNF gene affects the serial posi-tion curve—a fundamental phenomenon of associative memory identified by Hermann Ebbinghaus more than a century ago. We found a BDNF polymorphism effect for backward recall in older adults only, with Met-allele carriers (i.e., individuals with reduced BDNF signaling) recalling fewer items than Val homozygotes. This effect was specific to the primacy and middle portions of the se-rial position curve, where intralist interference and associative demands are especially high. The poorer performance of older Met-allele carriers reflected transposition errors, whereas no ge-netic effect was found for omissions. These findings indicate that effects of the BDNF polymorphism on episodic memory are most likely to be observed when the associative and executive demands are high. Furthermore, the findings are in line with the hypothesis that the magnitude of genetic effects on cognition is greater when brain resources are reduced, as is the case in old age. ■
Keyphrases
bdnf val66met polymorphism backward serial recall met-allele carrier associative demand fundamental phenomenon bdnf polymorphism brain-derived neurotrophic factor executive demand bdnf gene intralist interference hermann ebbinghaus ge-netic effect brain resource serial posi-tion curve associative memory se-rial position curve middle portion backward recall bdnf polymorphism effect common val66met missense polymorphism under-lies learning episodic memory reduced bdnf signaling transposition error im-portant role activity-dependent synaptic plasticity old age genetic effect
