A SINGLE gene has a profound effect on short-term memory skills, making a significant difference to how many words people can remember from a list.
The neurotransmitter serotonin is best known for its role in depression, but drugs that block a particular serotonin receptor in the brain also inhibit short-term memory. People inherit one of two types of the gene for this receptor, with 9 per cent of people having a form that is less readily stimulated by serotonin.
Dominique de Quervain and his colleagues at the University of Zurich in Switzerland wondered if having this rarer gene would also…
