Genetic variants affecting the neural processing of human facial expressions: evidence using a genome-wide functional imaging approach.

ABSTRACT: Human faces present crucial visual information for social interaction. Specialized brain regions are involved in the perception of faces, with the fusiform face area (FFA) a key neuronal substrate. Face processing is genetically controlled, but by which specific genes is unknown. A genome-wide approach identified common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with areas of increased brain activity in response to affective facial expressions, measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging. SNPs in 20 genetic regions were linked with neural responses to negative facial expressions in a Norwegian sample (n=246), which included patients with mental illness. Three genetic regions were linked with FFA activation in a further discovery experiment using positive facial expressions a

SUBMITTER: Brown AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3410629 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature