title: Does self-construal predict activity in the social brain network? A genetic moderation effect.
abstract: Neural activity in the social brain network varies across individuals with different cultural traits and different genetic polymorphisms. It remains unknown whether a specific genetic polymorphism may influence the association between cultural traits and neural activity in the social brain network. We tested whether the serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) affects the association between self-construals and neural activity involved in reflection of personal attributes of oneself and a significant other (i.e., mother). Using functional MRI, we scanned Chinese adults with short/short (s/s) or long/long (l/l) variants of the 5-HTTLPR during reflection of personal attributes of oneself and one's mother. We found that, while s/s and l/l genotype groups did not differ significantly in self-construals measured by the Self-Construal Scale, the relationship between self-construal scores and neural responses to reflection of oneself and mother was significantly different between the two genotype groups. Specifically, l/l but not s/s genotype group showed significant association between self-construal scores and activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, bilateral middle frontal cortex, temporoparietal junction, insula and hippocampus during reflection on mental attributes of oneself and mother. Our findings suggest that a specific genetic polymorphism may interact with a cultural trait to shape the neural substrates underlying social cognition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences at School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China Department of Psychology, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences at School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China yina.ma@pku.edu.cn shan@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yina
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences at School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China Department of Psychology, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences at School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China yina.ma@pku.edu.cn shan@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chenbo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences at School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China Department of Psychology, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences at School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China yina.ma@pku.edu.cn shan@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Bingfeng
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences at School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China Department of Psychology, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences at School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China yina.ma@pku.edu.cn shan@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wenxia
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences at School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China Department of Psychology, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences at School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China yina.ma@pku.edu.cn shan@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences at School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China Department of Psychology, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences at School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China yina.ma@pku.edu.cn shan@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shihui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012649:Self Concept; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012919:Social Behavior; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: 5-HTTLPR; culture; fMRI; self-construal; social brain network