Recognition of Scared Faces and the Serotonin Transporter Gene in Young Children: The Generation R Study

Autor/inn/en	Szekely, Eszter; Herba, Catherine M.; Arp, Pascal P.; Uitterlinden, Andre G.; Jaddoe, Vincent W. V.; Hofman, Albert; Verhulst, Frank C.; Hudziak, James J.; Tiemeier, Henning
Titel	Recognition of Scared Faces and the Serotonin Transporter Gene in Young Children: The Generation R Study
Quelle	In: Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52 (2011) 12, S.1279-1286 (8 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0021-9630
DOI	10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02423.x
Schlagwörter	Young Children; Recognition (Psychology); Emotional Response; Emotional Development; Preschool Children; Genetics; Cognitive Processes; Computers; Psychological Patterns; Nonverbal Communication; Visual Perception; Visual Stimuli + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Frühe Kindheit; Recognition; Wiedererkennen; Emotionales Verhalten; Gefühlsbildung; Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Humangenetik; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Digitalrechner; Non-verbal communication; Nonverbale Kommunikation; Visuelle Wahrnehmung
Abstract	Background: Previous research highlights the significance of a functional polymorphism located in the promoter region (5-HTTLPR) of the serotonin transporter gene in emotional behaviour. This study examined the effect of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism on emotion processing in a large number of healthy preschoolers. Methods: The 5-HTTLPR genotype was classified in 605 children as homozygous for the short allele (SS), homozygous for the long allele (LL), or heterozygous (LS). Emotion-processing was assessed using age-appropriate computer tasks where children matched happy, sad, angry, and fearful facial expressions preceded by a shape-matching task to assess basic matching ability. Results: We found that young children could differentiate between emotion categories (F = 12.1, p less than 0.001). The effect of 5-HTTLPR genotype depended on the emotion category presented (F = 2.3, p = 0.031). This effect was explained by the finding that SS children were less accurate at recognising fearful faces than LL or LS children (F = 5.3, p = 0.005). We did not find any significant differences as a result of 5-HTTLPR genotype for happy, sad or angry expressions (p greater than 0.05). Conclusions: Results indicate that 5-HTTLPR allele status selectively impacts the processing of fearful but not other facial expressions. This pattern is already apparent in very young typically developing children. Results may signal an early vulnerability for affective problems before disorders emerge. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10