Association of verbal and figural creative achievement with polymorphism in the human serotonin transporter gene.

Full Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the potential association between the S (short) and L (long) alleles of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism of the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene and verbal and figural creative ability. Sixty-two unrelated Caucasian university students (29 men and 33 women) participated in the experiment. The results showed a significant association between verbal and figural creativity scores and the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism. The subjects with S/S and L/S genotypes demonstrated higher verbal creativity scores in comparison with the L/L genotype carriers. The carriers of S/S genotype demonstrated also higher figural creativity scores in comparison with the carries of L/S and L/L genotypes. Thus, it is the first report on a significant association between the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and creative achievements. As the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism is associated with genetically defined alteration in the brain serotonergic neurotransmission our result provides an evidence of the involvement of the central serotonin system in creativity regulation.

Author information

Author/s: Volf, Nina V (NV); Kulikov, Alexander V (AV); Bortsov, Cyril U (CU); Popova, Nina K (NK);

Affiliation: Institute of Physiology of Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Neuroscience letters (Neurosci Lett), published in Ireland. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Oct; vol 463 (issue 2) : pp 154-7

Dates: Created 2009/08/17; Completed 2009/10/13;

PMID: 19638296, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 10/13/2009, IMS Date: )

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