Disentangling the Effects of Serotonin on Risk Perception: S-Carriers of 5-HTTLPR Are Primarily Concerned With the Magnitude of the Outcomes, Not the Uncertainty

Serotonin signaling is vital for reward processing, and hence, also for decision-making. The serotonin transporter gene linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) has been connected to decision making, suggesting that short-allele carriers (s) are more risk averse than long-allele homozygotes (ll). However, previous research has not identified if this occurs because s-carriers (i) are more sensitive to the uncertainty of the outcomes or (ii) are more sensitive to the magnitude of the outcomes. This issue was disentangled using a willingness-to-pay task, where the participants evaluated prospects involving certain gains, uncertain gains, and ambiguous gains. The results clearly favored the hypothesis that s-carriers react more to the magnitude of the outcomes. Self-reported measures of everyday risk-taking behavior also favored this hypothesis. We discuss how these results are in line with recent research on the serotonergic impact on reward processing.

Juslin, Peter,1964-Uppsala universitet,Institutionen för psykologi(Swepub:uu)petejusl (författare)
Eriksson, Elias,1956Gothenburg University,Göteborgs universitet,Institutionen för neurovetenskap och fysiologi,Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology(Swepub:gu)xereli (författare)
Ågren, ThomasUppsala universitet,Institutionen för psykologi(Swepub:uu)thoag299 (författare)
Uppsala universitetInstitutionen för psykologi (creator_code:org_t)

Ingår i:Behavioral Neuroscience: American Psychological Association (APA)131:5, s. 421-4270735-70441939-0084

Av författaren/redakt...: Millroth, Philip; Juslin, Peter, 1 ...; Eriksson, Elias, ...; Ågren, Thomas

Om ämnet

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP: MEDICIN OCH HÄLS ...; och Klinisk medicin; och Neurologi

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