Association of the serotonin transporter promoter region polymorphism with biased attention for negative word stimuli.

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.