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Neural and behavioral responses to threatening emotion faces in children as a function of the short allele of the serotonin transporter gene

Neural and behavioral responses to threatening emotion faces in children as a function of the short allele of the serotonin transporter gene
Neural and behavioral responses to threatening emotion faces in children as a function of the short allele of the serotonin transporter gene
Data suggest that a genetic polymorphism in the promoter region (5-HTTLPR) of the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene (SLC6A4) mediates stress reactivity in adults. Little is known, however, about this gene-brain association in childhood and adolescence, generally conceptualized as a time of heightened stress reactivity. The present study examines the association between 5-HTT allelic variation and responses to emotional faces presented both sub- and supraliminally in 9- to 17-year-old participants. Behaviorally, carriers of the 5-HTTLPR short (s) allele exhibited significantly greater attentional bias to subliminally presented fear faces than did their long (l)-allele homozygous counterparts. Moreover, s-allele carriers showed greater neural activations to emotion faces than did l-allele homozygotes in various regions of association cortex previously linked to attention control in adults; no such associations were observed in the amygdala. These results indicate that child and young adolescent s-allele carriers can be distinguished from l-allele homozygotes on the basis of hypervigilant behavioral and neural processing of negative material in the environment
0301-0511
38-44
Thomason, Moriah E
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Henry, Melissa L
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Hamilton, J. Paul
776ac01a-42cf-4d42-b31d-9ddd2e502321
Joormann, Jutta
14475456-43d1-45ce-a901-dc469726b418
Pine, Daniel S.
debffc1c-1efc-4bcf-81b3-87aadee1047d
Ernst, Monique
3906e5f6-2105-48af-9b78-a00482acac1c
Goldman, David
bc75c66e-413a-4c4a-a8b2-f1bef34b7deb
Mogg, Karin
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Bradley, Brendan P.
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Britton, Jennifer C.
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Lindstrom, Kara M.
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Monk, Chris
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Sankin, Lindsey S.
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Louro, Hugo M.
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Gotlib, Ian H.
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Thomason, Moriah E
3bdb5c59-8286-4e82-a20c-fe9988256a6b
Henry, Melissa L
4ea1dada-7ba4-4e9e-84e9-b49db38cc2d1
Hamilton, J. Paul
776ac01a-42cf-4d42-b31d-9ddd2e502321
Joormann, Jutta
14475456-43d1-45ce-a901-dc469726b418
Pine, Daniel S.
debffc1c-1efc-4bcf-81b3-87aadee1047d
Ernst, Monique
3906e5f6-2105-48af-9b78-a00482acac1c
Goldman, David
bc75c66e-413a-4c4a-a8b2-f1bef34b7deb
Mogg, Karin
5f1474af-85f5-4fd3-8eb6-0371be848e30
Bradley, Brendan P.
bdacaa6c-528b-4086-9448-27ebfe463514
Britton, Jennifer C.
85e7aebc-e0ee-4d8e-bbcc-b75121bf6c92
Lindstrom, Kara M.
6aef02eb-aa6d-49fa-b054-414e606bc51e
Monk, Chris
e554cb91-9b57-42b2-bff2-43b65a022e39
Sankin, Lindsey S.
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Louro, Hugo M.
daeb28d1-8adb-45ca-84d0-1e62e786ef59
Gotlib, Ian H.
a5ccf0b2-89d9-43cb-b5db-1cd5c39aee9c

Thomason, Moriah E, Henry, Melissa L, Hamilton, J. Paul, Joormann, Jutta, Pine, Daniel S., Ernst, Monique, Goldman, David, Mogg, Karin, Bradley, Brendan P., Britton, Jennifer C., Lindstrom, Kara M., Monk, Chris, Sankin, Lindsey S., Louro, Hugo M. and Gotlib, Ian H. (2010) Neural and behavioral responses to threatening emotion faces in children as a function of the short allele of the serotonin transporter gene. Biological Psychology, 85 (1), 38-44. (doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.04.009).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Data suggest that a genetic polymorphism in the promoter region (5-HTTLPR) of the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene (SLC6A4) mediates stress reactivity in adults. Little is known, however, about this gene-brain association in childhood and adolescence, generally conceptualized as a time of heightened stress reactivity. The present study examines the association between 5-HTT allelic variation and responses to emotional faces presented both sub- and supraliminally in 9- to 17-year-old participants. Behaviorally, carriers of the 5-HTTLPR short (s) allele exhibited significantly greater attentional bias to subliminally presented fear faces than did their long (l)-allele homozygous counterparts. Moreover, s-allele carriers showed greater neural activations to emotion faces than did l-allele homozygotes in various regions of association cortex previously linked to attention control in adults; no such associations were observed in the amygdala. These results indicate that child and young adolescent s-allele carriers can be distinguished from l-allele homozygotes on the basis of hypervigilant behavioral and neural processing of negative material in the environment

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 30 April 2010
Published date: September 2010
Organisations: Clinical Neuroscience

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 149719
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/149719
ISSN: 0301-0511
PURE UUID: 631cd5c5-d113-4a34-8b15-bd63c8bc7767
ORCID for Brendan P. Bradley: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2801-4271

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Date deposited: 05 May 2010 12:16
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:45

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Contributors

Author: Moriah E Thomason
Author: Melissa L Henry
Author: J. Paul Hamilton
Author: Jutta Joormann
Author: Daniel S. Pine
Author: Monique Ernst
Author: David Goldman
Author: Karin Mogg
Author: Jennifer C. Britton
Author: Kara M. Lindstrom
Author: Chris Monk
Author: Lindsey S. Sankin
Author: Hugo M. Louro
Author: Ian H. Gotlib

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