Institute of Psychology, Leiden University Leiden, Netherlands.
Front Psychol. 2011 Sep 1;2:199. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00199. eCollection 2011.
Western society has an increasing proportion of older adults. Increasing age is associated with a general decrease in the control over task-relevant mental processes. In the present study we investigated the possibility that successful transfer of game-based cognitive improvements to untrained tasks in elderly people is modulated by preexisting neuro-developmental factors as genetic variability related to levels of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), an important neuromodulator underlying cognitive processes. We trained participants, genotyped for the BDNF Val(66)Met polymorphism, on cognitive tasks developed to improve dynamic attention. Pre-training (baseline) and post-training measures of attentional processes (divided and selective attention) were acquired by means of the useful field of view task. As expected, Val/Val homozygous individuals showed larger beneficial transfer effects than Met/-carriers. Our findings support the idea that genetic predisposition modulates transfer effects.
西方社会的老年人比例越来越高。随着年龄的增长，人们对与任务相关的心理过程的控制能力通常会下降。在本研究中，我们调查了在老年人中，基于游戏的认知改善是否可以成功转移到未训练的任务中，这是否受到与脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）水平相关的遗传变异性等预先存在的神经发育因素的调节，BDNF 是认知过程的重要神经调节剂。我们对认知任务进行了训练，这些任务旨在改善动态注意力，参与者的 BDNF Val(66)Met 多态性进行了基因分型。通过有用的视野任务获得了注意力过程（分散和选择性注意力）的预训练（基线）和后训练测量值。正如预期的那样，Val/Val 纯合个体比 Met/-携带者表现出更大的有益转移效应。我们的发现支持了遗传倾向调节转移效应的观点。
