title: Association of the serotonin transporter promoter region polymorphism with biased attention for negative word stimuli.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Biased attention for emotional stimuli reflects vulnerability or resilience to emotional disorders. The current study examines whether the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism is associated with attentional biases for negative word stimuli.
  
  
  METHODS
  Unmedicated, young adults with low current depression and anxiety symptoms (N=106) were genotyped for the 5-HTTLPR, including the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs25531 in the long allele of the 5-HTTLPR. Participants then completed a standard dot-probe task that measured attentional bias toward anxiety, dysphoric, and self-esteem words.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The L(A)L(A) allele group demonstrated an attentional bias away from negative word stimuli. This attentional bias was absent among the S/L(G) carriers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings replicate previous work and suggest that 5-HTTLPR L(A) homozygotes possess a protective attentional bias that may decrease susceptibility to depression and anxiety.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas at Austin, 78712-0187, USA.
authors.forename: Tracy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kwang
authors.forename: Tony T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Wells
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: McGeary
authors.forename: William B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Swann
authors.forename: Christopher G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Beevers
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D001007:Anxiety / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D003863:Depression / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D010153:Paired-Associate Learning; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000235:genetics; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D012660:Semantics; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C493230:SLC6A4 protein, human; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins