Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychopathology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1456490
This article is part of the Research Topic Translational research advancements utilizing the Iowa Gambling Task in preclinical and clinical studies: 30 years of the IGT View all 5 articles

Differential Susceptibility Effects of the 5-HTTLPR and MAOA Genotypes on Decision Making under Risk in the Iowa Gambling Task

Provisionally accepted
Mattias Rehn Mattias Rehn 1Kent W Nilsson Kent W Nilsson 1,2,3Cathrine Hultman Cathrine Hultman 1,4Sofia Vadlin Sofia Vadlin 1Cecilia Åslund Cecilia Åslund 1,4*
  • 1 Centre for Clinical Research, County of Västmanland, Uppsala University, Västerås, Uppsala, Sweden
  • 2 Department of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden
  • 3 School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Mälardalen University College, Västerås, Västmanland, Sweden
  • 4 Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The interplay between genetic and environmental factors, as explored through studies of geneenvironment interactions (cG×E), has illuminated the complex dynamics influencing behavior and cognition, including decision-making processes. In this study, we investigated the differential susceptibility effects of the 5-HTTLPR and MAOA genotypes on decision-making under risk using the Iowa Gambling Task.Data from 264 participants (138 women, 126 men) aged 18-22 years, from the 2015 wave of the Survey of Adolescent Life in Västmanland (SALVe Cohort) was analyzed. Participants provided genetic data including the MAOA and 5-HTTLPR genotypes, and completed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) to evaluate decision-making behavior. Parent reports, including assessments of positive parenting styles and early life stress were used for cG×E analysis.In a General Linear Model, significant interactions were found among males for the 5-HTTLPR, with SS/SL carriers showing higher net scores with positive parenting and lower scores with less positive parenting in relation to decision-making under risk in the IGT (trials 61-100), indicating differential susceptibility effects. Male LL carriers showed minimal fluctuation in IGT scores. Similar effects were observed for males with the MAOA S-allele. No significant interactions were found for females.In conclusion, our study indicates that the 5-HTTLPR and MAOA genes demonstrate susceptibility to environmental factors in influencing decision-making under risk among males, as assessed by the Iowa Gambling Task. We anticipate that these findings will contribute to advancing the understanding of the complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors in shaping human behavior and decision-making.

    Keywords: serotonin transporter gene, Monoamine oxidase A, decision-making, geneenvironment interaction, Genetic Susceptibility, risk-taking, Iowa Gambling Task

    Received: 28 Jun 2024; Accepted: 27 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Rehn, Nilsson, Hultman, Vadlin and Åslund. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Cecilia Åslund, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Uppsala University, Uppsala, 751 22, Uppsala, Sweden

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.