title: Electrophysiological responses of feedback processing are modulated by MAOA genotype in healthy male adolescents.
abstract: A functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene is closely related to aggression. Although previous studies suggested that impaired ability of feedback processing might be associated with aggressive behaviour, studies concerning the MAOA gene-related aggression rarely focused on the link between MAOA gene and feedback processing. We therefore sought to investigate the effect of MAOA genotype on electrophysiological responses of feedback processing in 72 healthy male adolescents during a simple monetary gambling task. Feedback processing was investigated by measuring the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and the P300 as electrophysiological markers. We observed a decreased electrophysiological response of the loss-gain difference waves from 250 to 350 ms (dFRN) in individuals with the lower activity alleles (MAOA-L) during the task, an effect that was driven primarily by the considerably altered response to monetary gains. The reduced dFRN in MAOA-L group might indicate poor ability to learn from feedback, which is followed by adjusting future behaviour. And MAOA-L carriers exhibited lower P300 compared with subjects with higher activity alleles (MAOA-H), which suggested fewer attentional resources were allocated to feedback processing. In addition, MAOA-L carriers demonstrated higher aggression and the aggression were inversely correlated with dFRN across two groups; further analyses suggested that dFRN mediated the MAOA genotype-aggression relationship. Consequently, we concluded that it might be the altered feedback processing that makes MAOA-L carriers more vulnerable to aggressive behaviour.
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Institute, the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
authors.forename: Ren
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Institute, the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
authors.forename: Huiqiao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Institute, the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Institute, the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
authors.forename: Qingsen
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ming
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Institute, the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Institute, the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
authors.forename: Yidian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Institute, the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
authors.forename: Jinyao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Institute, the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China; National Technology Institute of Psychiatry, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China; Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China. Electronic address: shuqiaoyao@163.com.
authors.forename: Shuqiao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yao
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000374:Aggression; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D030141:Feedback, Psychological; D005715:Gambling; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D008995:Monoamine Oxidase
keywords: Aggression; FRN; Feedback processing; MAOA; P300