LeMoult Joelle, Carver Charles S, Johnson Sheri L, Joormann Jutta
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Jordan Hall, Building 420, Stanford, CA, 94305-2130, USA,
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2015 Mar;15(1):95-103. doi: 10.3758/s13415-014-0305-8.
Studies on depression risk emphasize the importance of both cognitive and genetic vulnerability factors. The present study has provided the first examination of whether working memory capacity, the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism, and their interaction predict changes in symptoms of depression during the transition to university. Early in the semester, students completed a self-report measure of depressive symptoms and a modified version of the reading span task to assess working memory capacity in the presence of both neutral and negative distractors. Whole blood was genotyped for the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism. Students returned at the end of the semester to complete additional self-report questionnaires. Neither working memory capacity nor the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism predicted change in depressive symptoms either independently or in interaction with self-reported semester difficulty. The BDNF Val66Met polymorphism, however, moderated the association between working memory capacity and symptom change. Among met carriers, lower working memory capacity in the presence of negative-but not neutral-distractors was associated with increased symptoms of depression over the semester. For the val/val group, working memory capacity did not predict symptom change. These findings contribute directly to biological and cognitive models of depression and highlight the importance of examining Gene × Cognition interactions when investigating risk for depression.
关于抑郁症风险的研究强调了认知和遗传易感性因素的重要性。本研究首次考察了工作记忆容量、脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）Val66Met多态性及其相互作用是否能预测大学过渡期间抑郁症状的变化。在学期初，学生们完成了一项抑郁症状的自我报告测量以及阅读广度任务的修订版，以评估在中性和负面干扰物存在情况下的工作记忆容量。对全血进行BDNF Val66Met多态性基因分型。学生们在学期末返回完成额外的自我报告问卷。工作记忆容量和BDNF Val66Met多态性无论是单独还是与自我报告的学期难度相互作用，均未预测抑郁症状的变化。然而，BDNF Val66Met多态性调节了工作记忆容量与症状变化之间的关联。在Met携带者中，在存在负面而非中性干扰物的情况下较低的工作记忆容量与学期内抑郁症状增加有关。对于val/val组，工作记忆容量不能预测症状变化。这些发现直接有助于抑郁症的生物学和认知模型，并突出了在调查抑郁症风险时检查基因×认知相互作用的重要性。
