Serotonin depletion amplifies distinct human social emotions as a function of individual differences in personality
Abstract Serotonin is involved in a wide range of mental capacities essential for navigating the social world, including emotion and impulse control. Much recent work on serotonin and social functioning has focused on decision-making. Here we investigated the influence of serotonin on human emotiona...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Publishing Group
2021-02-01
|
| Series: | Translational Psychiatry |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-020-00880-9 |
| _version_ | 1818623290193739776 |
|---|---|
| author | Jonathan W. Kanen Fréderique E. Arntz Robyn Yellowlees Rudolf N. Cardinal Annabel Price David M. Christmas Annemieke M. Apergis-Schoute Barbara J. Sahakian Trevor W. Robbins |
| author_facet | Jonathan W. Kanen Fréderique E. Arntz Robyn Yellowlees Rudolf N. Cardinal Annabel Price David M. Christmas Annemieke M. Apergis-Schoute Barbara J. Sahakian Trevor W. Robbins |
| author_sort | Jonathan W. Kanen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Serotonin is involved in a wide range of mental capacities essential for navigating the social world, including emotion and impulse control. Much recent work on serotonin and social functioning has focused on decision-making. Here we investigated the influence of serotonin on human emotional reactions to social conflict. We used a novel computerised task that required mentally simulating social situations involving unjust harm and found that depleting the serotonin precursor tryptophan—in a double-blind randomised placebo-controlled design—enhanced emotional responses to the scenarios in a large sample of healthy volunteers (n = 73), and interacted with individual differences in trait personality to produce distinctive human emotions. Whereas guilt was preferentially elevated in highly empathic participants, annoyance was potentiated in those high in trait psychopathy, with medium to large effect sizes. Our findings show how individual differences in personality, when combined with fluctuations of serotonin, may produce diverse emotional phenotypes. This has implications for understanding vulnerability to psychopathology, determining who may be more sensitive to serotonin-modulating treatments, and casts new light on the functions of serotonin in emotional processing. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-16T18:38:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-256c4a1ae25e48f6a384b462065ecd09 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2158-3188 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-16T18:38:43Z |
| publishDate | 2021-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Translational Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-256c4a1ae25e48f6a384b462065ecd092022-12-21T22:21:07ZengNature Publishing GroupTranslational Psychiatry2158-31882021-02-0111111210.1038/s41398-020-00880-9Serotonin depletion amplifies distinct human social emotions as a function of individual differences in personalityJonathan W. Kanen0Fréderique E. Arntz1Robyn Yellowlees2Rudolf N. Cardinal3Annabel Price4David M. Christmas5Annemieke M. Apergis-Schoute6Barbara J. Sahakian7Trevor W. Robbins8Department of Psychology, University of CambridgeDepartment of Psychology, University of CambridgeDepartment of Psychology, University of CambridgeBehavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of CambridgeDepartment of Psychiatry, University of CambridgeDepartment of Psychiatry, University of CambridgeBehavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of CambridgeBehavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of CambridgeDepartment of Psychology, University of CambridgeAbstract Serotonin is involved in a wide range of mental capacities essential for navigating the social world, including emotion and impulse control. Much recent work on serotonin and social functioning has focused on decision-making. Here we investigated the influence of serotonin on human emotional reactions to social conflict. We used a novel computerised task that required mentally simulating social situations involving unjust harm and found that depleting the serotonin precursor tryptophan—in a double-blind randomised placebo-controlled design—enhanced emotional responses to the scenarios in a large sample of healthy volunteers (n = 73), and interacted with individual differences in trait personality to produce distinctive human emotions. Whereas guilt was preferentially elevated in highly empathic participants, annoyance was potentiated in those high in trait psychopathy, with medium to large effect sizes. Our findings show how individual differences in personality, when combined with fluctuations of serotonin, may produce diverse emotional phenotypes. This has implications for understanding vulnerability to psychopathology, determining who may be more sensitive to serotonin-modulating treatments, and casts new light on the functions of serotonin in emotional processing.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-020-00880-9 |
| spellingShingle | Jonathan W. Kanen Fréderique E. Arntz Robyn Yellowlees Rudolf N. Cardinal Annabel Price David M. Christmas Annemieke M. Apergis-Schoute Barbara J. Sahakian Trevor W. Robbins Serotonin depletion amplifies distinct human social emotions as a function of individual differences in personality Translational Psychiatry |
| title | Serotonin depletion amplifies distinct human social emotions as a function of individual differences in personality |
| title_full | Serotonin depletion amplifies distinct human social emotions as a function of individual differences in personality |
| title_fullStr | Serotonin depletion amplifies distinct human social emotions as a function of individual differences in personality |
| title_full_unstemmed | Serotonin depletion amplifies distinct human social emotions as a function of individual differences in personality |
| title_short | Serotonin depletion amplifies distinct human social emotions as a function of individual differences in personality |
| title_sort | serotonin depletion amplifies distinct human social emotions as a function of individual differences in personality |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-020-00880-9 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jonathanwkanen serotonindepletionamplifiesdistincthumansocialemotionsasafunctionofindividualdifferencesinpersonality AT frederiqueearntz serotonindepletionamplifiesdistincthumansocialemotionsasafunctionofindividualdifferencesinpersonality AT robynyellowlees serotonindepletionamplifiesdistincthumansocialemotionsasafunctionofindividualdifferencesinpersonality AT rudolfncardinal serotonindepletionamplifiesdistincthumansocialemotionsasafunctionofindividualdifferencesinpersonality AT annabelprice serotonindepletionamplifiesdistincthumansocialemotionsasafunctionofindividualdifferencesinpersonality AT davidmchristmas serotonindepletionamplifiesdistincthumansocialemotionsasafunctionofindividualdifferencesinpersonality AT annemiekemapergisschoute serotonindepletionamplifiesdistincthumansocialemotionsasafunctionofindividualdifferencesinpersonality AT barbarajsahakian serotonindepletionamplifiesdistincthumansocialemotionsasafunctionofindividualdifferencesinpersonality AT trevorwrobbins serotonindepletionamplifiesdistincthumansocialemotionsasafunctionofindividualdifferencesinpersonality |