Skip to Main Content

Experimental Psychology (Russia)
2022. Vol. 15, no. 3, 121–139
doi:10.17759/exppsy.2022150309
ISSN: 2072-7593 / 2311-7036 (online)

The Success of Facial Expression Recognition by Carriers of Various Genotypes of the COMT, DRD4, 5HT2A, MAOA GENES

117

E.M. Kovsh, D.V. Yavna, V.V. Babenko, P.N. Ermakov, E.V. Vorobyeva, E.G. Denisova, D.S. Alekseeva

PDF (RUS)
Online translation in english
GS
Information
in Google Scholar

Abstract

The work is aimed at describing the relationship between the genes COMT, DRD4, 5HT2A, MAOA with the success of facial expression recognition. These genes play an important role in various emotional and cognitive processes. At the same time, hereditary aspects of recognition of facial expressions, in contrast to sociocultural ones, have not been studied enough to date. The study involved 87 healthy students of Russian universities (20.4 ± 2.6 years). DNA analysis was carried out with the determination of genotypes by the polymorphic loci of the genes rs4680 COMT, rs6313 5HT2A (HTR2A), rs1800955 DRD4, VNTR MAOA (RSMU, Rostov-on-Don). The participants of the study were asked to distinguish emotional facial expressions in photographs taken from the MMI, KDEF, Rafd, WSEFEP image databases. The obtained results indicate the following differences in the success of facial expression recognition: carriers of the Val/Val genotype of the COMT gene significantly better recognize the emotions of surprise (H=7.7, df=2, p=0.02), fear (H=10.5, df=2, p=0.005), sadness (H=11.2, df=2, p=0.004); carriers of the heterozygous C/T genotype of the DRD4 gene significantly better recognize facial expression of disgust (H=9.1, df=2, p=0.01). No relationship was found between the MAOA gene genotypes and the success of emotion recognition.

General Information

Keywords: COMT, DRD4, 5HT2A (HTR2A), MAOA, facial expressions, emotions, emotion recognition

Journal rubric: Face Science

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/exppsy.2022150309

Funding. The reported study was funded by Russian scientific fund (RSF), project number 20-64- 47057.

Received: 08.06.2022

Accepted:

For citation: Kovsh E.M., Yavna D.V., Babenko V.V., Ermakov P.N., Vorobyeva E.V., Denisova E.G., Alekseeva D.S. The Success of Facial Expression Recognition by Carriers of Various Genotypes of the COMT, DRD4, 5HT2A, MAOA GENES. Eksperimental'naâ psihologiâ = Experimental Psychology (Russia), 2022. Vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 121–139. DOI: 10.17759/exppsy.2022150309. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

References

  1. Belovol E.V., Khvorova E.M. Kognitivnyistil’ lichnosti kak factor effektivnogo raspoznavaniya litsevoi ekspressii [Cognitive style of personality as a factor in effective recognition of facial expression] // Vestnik Rossiiskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Seriya: Psikhologiya i pedagogika. [Bulletin of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. Series: Psychology and Pedagogy]. 2015. No. 3. P. 51—60. (In Russ.).

  2. Vorob’evaE.V.,KosonogovV.V.,KovshE.M.Emotsional’nyiintellekt:geneticheskieipsikhofiziologicheskie korrelyaty [Emotional intelligence: genetic and psychophysiological correlates]. Moscow. «Mir nauki». 2021. 96 p. (In Russ.).

  3. Ermakov P.N., Kovsh E.M., Vorob’eva E.V. Osobennosti vyzvannoi aktivnosti mozga devushek-nositel’nits razlichnykh genotipov po markeru MAOA-uVNTR pri otsenke emotsional’no okrashennykh stsen [Features of the evoked brain activity of female carriers of different genotypes according to the MAOA-uVNTR marker when evaluating emotionally colored scenes] [Elektronnyi resurs] // Rossiiskii psikhologicheskii zhurnal. [Russian Journal of Psychology]. 2016. Vol. 13. No. 4. P. 232—253. DOI:10.21702/rpj.2016.4.14 (In Russ.).

  4. Karabushchenko N.B., Khvorova E.M. Sotsial’no-intellektual’nye osobennosti raspoznavaniya litsevoi ekspressii [The manifestation of the mechanisms of holistic perception in the recognition of facial expression in subjects of different age groups] // Litso cheloveka: poznanie, obshchenie, deyatel’nost’. [Human face in the contexts of nature, technology and culture]. Kollektivnaya monografiya. In K.I. Anan’eva, V.A. Barabanshchikov, A.A. Demidov (ed.). Moscow: Kogito-Tsentr; Moskovskii institute psikhoanaliza, 2019. P. 395—407. (In Russ.).

  5. Karabushchenko N.B. et al. Kul’turno-intellektual’nyeosobennostiraspoznavaniyalitsevoiekspres siipredstaviteleidrugikhetnosov [Cultural and intellectual features of facial expression recognition of representatives of other ethnic groups] // Rossiiskiipsikhologicheskiizhurnal. [Russian Journal of Psychology]. 2017. Vol. 14. No. 3. P. 169—189. DOI:10.21702/rpj.2017.3.9(In Russ.).

  6. Lunyakova E.G., Raikov A.V., Makhkamova D.Z. Proyavlenie mekhanizmov tselostnogo vospriyatiya v raspoznavanii litsevoi ekspressii u ispytuemykh raznykh vozrastnykh grupp [The manifestation of the mechanisms of holistic perception in the recognition of facial expression in subjects of different age groups] // Litso cheloveka v kontekstakh prirody, tekhnologii i kul’tury. [Human face in the contexts of nature, technology and culture]. Kollektivnaya monografiya. In K.I. Anan’eva, V.A. Barabanshchikov (ed.). Moscow: Kogito-Tsentr; Moskovskii institute psikhoanaliza, 2020. P. 194—209. (In Russ.).

  7. Babenko V. et al. Relationship Between Facial Areas With the Greatest Increase in Non-local Contrast and Gaze Fixations in Recognizing Emotional Expressions // International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education. 2021. Vol. 9. № 3. P. 359—368. DOI:10.23947/2334-8496-2021-9-3-359-368

  8. Bowles D. et al. Diagnosing prosopagnosia: Effects of ageing, sex, and participant—stimulus ethnic match on the Cambridge Face Memory Test and Cambridge Face Perception Test // Cognitive neuropsychology. 2009. Vol. 26. № 5. P. 423—455. DOI:10.1080/02643290903343149

  9. Chen D., Song P. Dual-graph regularized discriminative transfer sparse coding for facial expression recognition // Digital Signal Processing. 2021. Vol. 108. 102906. DOI:10.1016/j.dsp.2020.102906

  10. Davis J.M. et al. Individual differences in the ability to recognize facial identity are associated with social anxiety // PLoSONE. 2011. Vol. 6. № 12. Article e28800. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0028800

  11. De Haan E. A familial factor in the development of face recognition deficits // Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology. 1999. Vol. 21. P. 312—315. DOI:10.1076/jcen.21.3.312.917

  12. Drabant E.M. et al. Catechol-O-methyltransferase val158met genotype and neural mechanisms related to affective arousal and regulation // Archives of general psychiatry. 2006. Vol. 63. № 12. P. 1396—1406. DOI:10.1001/archpsyc.63.12.1396

  13. Dunn O.J. Multiple Comparisons Using Rank Sums // Technometrics. Taylor & Francis. 1964. Vol. 6. № 3. P. 241—252. DOI:10.1080/00401706.1964.10490181

  14. Ekman P. An argument for basic emotions // Cognition & emotion. 1992. Vol. 6. № 3-4. P. 169—200. DOI:10.1080/02699939208411068

  15. 15. Erickson K. et al. Mood-congruent bias in affective go/no-go performance of unmedicated patients with major depressive disorder // American Journal of Psychiatry. 2005. Vol. 162. № 11. P. 2171—2173. DOI:10.1176/appi.ajp.162.11.2171

  16. Gagliardi C. et al. Facial expression recognition in Williams syndrome // Neuropsychologia. 2003. Vol. 41. № 6. P. 733—738. DOI:10.1016/S0028-3932(02)00178-1

  17. Guo H. et al. Synergistic effect of 5-HT2A receptor gene and MAOA gene on the negative emotion of patients with depression // Clinical physiology and functional imaging. 2014. Vol. 34. № 4. P. 277—281. DOI:10.1111/cpf.12094

  18. Jamieson A.J., Davey C.G., Harrison B.J. Differential Modulation of Effective Connectivity in the Right Hemisphere of the Brain’s Extended Face Processing System by Fearful and Sad Facial Expressions // Eneuro. 2021. Vol. 0380. №. 20. DOI:10.1523/ENEURO.0380-20.2021

  19. Joormann J., Gotlib I. H. Is this happiness I see? Biases in the identification of emotional facial expressions in depression and social phobia // Journal of abnormal psychology. 2006. Vol. 115. № 4. P. 705. DOI:10.1037/0021-843X.115.4.705

  20. Kang J.I. et al. Association of DRD4 and COMT polymorphisms with disgust sensitivity in healthy volunteers // Neuropsychobiology. 2010. Vol. 61. № 2. P. 105—112. DOI:10.1159/000275822

  21. Kingdom F.A.A., Prins N. Psychophysics: A practical introduction (Second edition). Amsterdam: Elsevier/Academic Press, 2016. 331 p. DOI:10.1016/C2012-0-01278-1

  22. Kohn N. et al. Cognitive Control of Emotions in Challenging Contexts // Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 2021. Vol. 15. 785875. DOI:10.3389/fnbeh.2021.785875

  23. Kometer M. et al. Psilocybin biases facial recognition, goal-directed behavior, and mood state toward positive relative to negative emotions through different serotonergic subreceptors // Biological psychiatry. 2012. Vol. 72. № 11. P. 898—906. DOI:10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.04.005

  24. Langner O. et al. Presentation and validation of the Radboud Faces Database // Cognition and emotion. 2010. Vol. 24. № 8. P. 1377—1388. DOI:10.1080/02699930903485076

  25. Lau J.Y. et al. Individual differences in children’s facial expression recognition ability: The role of nature and nurture // Developmental neuropsychology. 2009. Vol. 34. № 1. P. 37—51. DOI:10.1080/87565640802564424

  26. Liu Z. et al. Facial Emotion Recognition and Polymorphisms of Dopaminergic Pathway Genes in Children with ASD // Behavioural neurology. 2020. 6376842. DOI:10.1155/2020/6376842

  27. Lopatina O.L. et al. Neurobiological aspects of face recognition: the role of oxytocin // Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience. 2018. Vol. 12. № 195. DOI:10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00195

  28. Lundqvist D., Flykt A., Öhman A. The Karolinska directed emotional faces (KDEF). [Database record]. APA PsycTests. KarolinskaInstitutet. 1998. DOI:10.1037/t27732-000

  29. Mayo O. A Century of Hardy—Weinberg Equilibrium // Twin Research and Human Genetics. 2008. Vol. 11. № 3. P. 249—256. DOI:10.1375/twin.11.3.249

  30. Matsunaga M. et al. Serotonin Receptor (HTR2A) Gene Polymorphism Modulates Social Sharing of Happiness in Both American and Japanese Adults // Japanese Psychological Research. 2022. Vol. 64. № 2. P. 181—192. DOI:10.1111/jpr.12389

  31. McKone E., Palermo R. A strong role for nature in face recognition // Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2010. Vol. 107. № 11. P. 4795—4796. DOI:10.1073/pnas.1000567107

  32. Nelson C., De Haan M.A neurobehavioral approach to the recognition of facial expressions in infancy // The Psychology of Facial Expression (Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction) / G. Mandler, J. Russell, J. Fernández- Dols (Eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. P. 176—204. DOI:10.1017/CBO9780511659911.010

  33. Olszanowski M. et al. Warsaw set of emotional facial expression pictures: a validation study of facial display photographs // Frontiers in psychology. 2015. Vol. 5.51516.DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01516

  34. Pantic M. et al. Web-based database for facial expression analysis. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo (Amsterdam, the 25 of October, 2005). Amsterdam. IEEE. 2005. 5 p. DOI:10.1109/ICME.2005.1521424.

  35. 35. Peirce J. et al. PsychoPy2: Experiments in behavior made easy // Behav Res Methods. 2019. Vol. 51. № 1. P. 195—203. DOI:10.3758/s13428-018-01193-y

  36. PrinsN. Applying the model comparison approach to tests pecific research hypotheses in psychophysical research using the Palamedes toolbox // Frontiers in psychology. 2018. Vol. 9. 1250. DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01250

  37. Salgado-Pineda P. et al. Dopaminergic contribution to the regulation of emotional perception // Clinical neuropharmacology. 2005. Vol. 28. № 5. P. 228—237. DOI:10.1097/01.wnf.0000185824.57690.f0

  38. Shakeshaft N.G., Plomin R. Genetic specificity of face recognition // Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2015. Vol. 112. № 41. P. 12887—12892. DOI:10.1073/pnas.1421881112

  39. Skuse D.H. Common polymorphism in the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) is associated with human social recognition skills // Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. USA. 2014. Vol. 111. P. 1987— 1992. DOI:10.1073/pnas.1302985111

  40. Smolka M.N., et al. Catechol-O-methyltransferase val158met genotype affects processing of emotional stimuli in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex // Journal of Neuroscience. 2005. Vol. 25. № 4. P. 836—842. DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1792-04.2005

  41. Verhallen R.J. et al. The oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) and face recognition // Psychological science. 2017. Vol. 28. № 1. P. 47—55. DOI:10.1177/0956797616672269

  42. Weiss E. et al. Differential effect of catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met genotype on emotional recognition abilities in healthy men and women // Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. 2007. Vol. 13. № 5. P. 881—887. DOI:10.1017/S1355617707070932

  43. Wilmer J.B. Individual differences in face recognition: A decade of discovery // Current Directions in Psychological Science. 2017. Vol. 26. № 3. P. 225—230. DOI:10.1177/0963721417710693

  44. Wilmer J.B. et al. Human face recognition ability is specific and highly heritable // Proceedings of the National Academy of sciences. 2010. Vol. 107. № 11. P. 5238—5241. DOI:10.1073/pnas.0913053107

  45. World Medical Association. Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association: Declaration of Helsinki (ed). Helsinki: WMA.1964. 177 p.

  46. Zhu B. et al. Genetic variations in the dopamine system and facial expression recognition in healthy Chinese college students // Neuropsychobiology. 2012. Vol. 65. № 2. P. 83—89. DOI:10.1159/000329555

  47. Zhu Q. et al. Heritability of the specific cognitive ability of face perception // Current Biology. 2010. Vol. 20. № 2. P. 137—142. DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2009.11.067

Information About the Authors

E M. Kovsh, PhD in Psychology, Lecturer, Psychophysiology and Clinical Psychology Department, Southern Federal University, Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5804-5688, e-mail: katya-kovsh@yandex.ru

Denis V. Yavna, PhD in Psychology, Associcate Professor at the Department of Psychophysiology and Clinical Psychology, Southern Federal University, Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2895-5119, e-mail: yavna@fortran.su

Vitaliy V. Babenko, Doctor of Biology, Professor, Professor at the Department of Psychophysiology and Clinical Psychology, Southern Federal University, Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3750-1277, e-mail: babenko@sfedu.ru

Pavel N. Ermakov, Doctor of Biology, Professor, Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychophysiology, Southern Federal University, Head of the Southern Federal Regional Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Education, Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8395-2426, e-mail: paver@sfedu.ru

Elena V. Vorobyeva, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Department of Correctional Pedagogy, Academy of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Southern Federal University, Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8974-5655, e-mail: pflab@psyf.rsu.ru

Ekaterina G. Denisova, PhD in Psychology, Associate Professor, Department of Psychophysiology and Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Pedagogy and Defectology, Don State Technical University, Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0240-8176, e-mail: keithdenisova@gmail.com

Daria S. Alekseeva, MA in Psychology, Junior Researcher, Regional Research Center of the Russian Academy of Education in the Southern Federal District, Southern Federal University, Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4892-8065, e-mail: alexeeva_ds@mail.ru

Metrics

Views

Total: 462
Previous month: 23
Current month: 12

Downloads

Total: 117
Previous month: 4
Current month: 2