The role of serotonin in personality inference: tryptophan depletion impairs the identification of neuroticism in the face

Abstract

Serotonergic mechanisms mediate the expression of personality traits (such as impulsivity, aggression and anxiety) that are linked to vulnerability to psychological illnesses, and modulate the identification of emotional expressions in the face as well as learning about broader classes of appetitive and aversive signals. Faces with neutral expressions signal a variety of socially relevant information, such that inferences about the big five personality traits, including Neuroticism, Extraversion and Agreeableness, can be accurately made on the basis of emotionally neutral facial photographs. Given the close link between Neuroticism and psychological distress, we investigated the effects of diminished central serotonin activity (achieved by tryptophan depletion) upon the accuracy of 52 healthy (non-clinical) adults’ discriminations of personality from facial characteristics. All participants were able to discriminate reliably four of the big five traits. However, the tryptophan-depleted participants were specifically less accurate in discriminating Neuroticism than the matched non-depleted participants. These data suggest that central serotonin activity modulates the identification of not only negative facial emotional expression but also a broader class of signals about personality characteristics linked to psychological distress.

[Retracted] A Face Recognition System Using ACO‐BPNN Model for Optimizing the Teaching Management System

“…The facial expressions, different image acquisition angles, different lighting conditions, and face coverings (glasses, masks, etc.) will all bring great differences to the same face [ 8 ]. Therefore, improving the recognition accuracy of the face recognition system under complex conditions is a problem we need to study and improve.…”

Relationship Between the Incidence of Road Traffic Accidents, Psychological Characteristics, and Genotype in Bus Drivers in a Chinese Population

“…Recent studies have focused on investigating the relationship between common genetic polymorphisms and specific psychological characteristics for distinct candidate genes, with some studies showing that the neurotransmitters 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) (serotonin), 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), and dopamine play an important role in personality traits [ 11 , 12 ]. Psychological characteristics have been mainly studied in association with the serotonergic system because neurotransmission mediated by 5-HT contribute to several psychological functions, such as emotional instability, anxiety, and depression [ 13 ]. Previously published studies have also shown that low levels of platelet 5-HT, and 5-HT metabolites, are associated with forms of impulsive or psychopathic behavior [ 14 ].…”

Gestational Tryptophan Fluctuation Underlying Ontogenetic Origin of Neuropsychiatric Disorders

“…For example, the compositions of the amino acid mixtures are distinct [58,59]. And, the gender difference is taken into account, i.e., the amino acid quantities of both ATD and placebo balanced beverages differ between males and females [47]. Moreover, inconsistencies exist regarding the effects of ATD on personality traits and disorders, attributing to the health state and characteristics of the subjects.…”