B Gohier1, C Senior2, J Radua3, W El-Hage4, A Reichenberg5, P Proitsi5, M L Phillips6, S A Surguladze7. 1. Université d'Angers, CHU Angers, Département de Psychiatrie, Angers, France; Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire, EA 4638, Université d'Angers, Angers, France. Electronic address: begohier@chu-angers.fr. 2. School of Life and Health Sciences, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham, UK. 3. Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK; FIDMAG, CIBERSAM, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Spain. 4. Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK; Inserm U930, Université François Rabelais, CHRU de Tours, Tours, France. 5. Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK. 6. Department of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Department of Psychological Medicine, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, UK. 7. Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK; Cygnet Health Care, London, UK.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Investigating genetic modulation of emotion processing may contribute to the understanding of heritable mechanisms of emotional disorders. The aim of the present study was to test the effects of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) val158met and serotonin-transporter-linked promoter region (5-HTTLPR) polymorphisms on facial emotion processing in healthy individuals. METHODS: Two hundred and seventy five (167 female) participants were asked to complete a computerized facial affect recognition task, which involved four experimental conditions, each containing one type of emotional face (fearful, angry, sad or happy) intermixed with neutral faces. Participants were asked to indicate whether the face displayed an emotion or was neutral. The COMT-val158met and 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms were genotyped. RESULTS: Met homozygotes (COMT) showed a stronger bias to perceive neutral faces as expressions of anger, compared with val homozygotes. However, the S-homozygotes (5-HTTLPR) showed a reduced bias to perceive neutral faces as expressions of happiness, compared to L-homozygotes. No interaction between 5-HTTLPR and COMT was found. CONCLUSIONS: These results add to the knowledge of individual differences in social cognition that are modulated via serotonergic and dopaminergic systems. This potentially could contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms of susceptibility to emotional disorders.
BACKGROUND: Investigating genetic modulation of emotion processing may contribute to the understanding of heritable mechanisms of emotional disorders. The aim of the present study was to test the effects of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) val158met and serotonin-transporter-linked promoter region (5-HTTLPR) polymorphisms on facial emotion processing in healthy individuals. METHODS: Two hundred and seventy five (167 female) participants were asked to complete a computerized facial affect recognition task, which involved four experimental conditions, each containing one type of emotional face (fearful, angry, sad or happy) intermixed with neutral faces. Participants were asked to indicate whether the face displayed an emotion or was neutral. The COMT-val158met and 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms were genotyped. RESULTS: Met homozygotes (COMT) showed a stronger bias to perceive neutral faces as expressions of anger, compared with val homozygotes. However, the S-homozygotes (5-HTTLPR) showed a reduced bias to perceive neutral faces as expressions of happiness, compared to L-homozygotes. No interaction between 5-HTTLPR and COMT was found. CONCLUSIONS: These results add to the knowledge of individual differences in social cognition that are modulated via serotonergic and dopaminergic systems. This potentially could contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms of susceptibility to emotional disorders.
Authors: Jeanne E Savage; Chelsea Sawyers; Roxann Roberson-Nay; John M Hettema Journal: Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet Date: 2016-05-19 Impact factor: 3.568
Authors: Alexander Lischke; Rike Pahnke; Jörg König; Georg Homuth; Alfons O Hamm; Julia Wendt Journal: Front Neurosci Date: 2019-01-22 Impact factor: 4.677