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. 2025 Jul 1;15(1):20641.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-03772-4.

Dopaminergic and serotonergic genetic variants predict actions and expectations of cooperation and punishment

Pablo Marcos-Prieto  1   2 , Erica Ordali  3   4 , Veronica Mariotti  5 , Sara Palumbo  5 , Stefano Vellucci  5 , Emiliano Ricciardi  6 , Leonardo Boncinelli  7 , Pietro Pietrini  6 , Silvia Pellegrini  5 , Ennio Bilancini  6
Affiliations

Dopaminergic and serotonergic genetic variants predict actions and expectations of cooperation and punishment

Pablo Marcos-Prieto et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Genetic variants in dopaminergic and serotonergic pathways have been linked to individual differences in social behavior. In this study, we investigated the relationship between eight allelic variants within these pathways and both behavior and beliefs in 99 participants playing an online Public Goods Game (PGG) with and without punishment. Our results show that individuals with the 5-HTTLPR L/L genotype contributed less and had lower expectations of others' contributions in the absence of punishment; the 5-HTR1B-rs13212041 T/T genotype was associated with lower expectations of antisocial and spiteful punishment; the COMT-rs4680 A/A (Met/Met) genotype was linked to lower expectations of contributions in the presence of punishment. These findings suggest that specific alleles modulate both cooperative behavior and social expectations, suggesting a genetic contribution to individual variability in responses to social dilemmas.

Keywords: Cooperation; Dopamine; Genes; Public goods game; Punishment; Serotonin.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Plot representation of the four main results. Panels (a) and (b) show results for carriers vs. non-carriers of the L/L genotype of 5-HTTLPR about the average contributions to the public good in the absence of a punishment option and the average beliefs about that same behavior, respectively. Panel (c) shows the average beliefs about the presence of antisocial behavior for carriers vs. non-carriers of the T/T genotype of 5-HTR1B. Finally, panel (d) shows the average beliefs about the average contribution to the public good, in light of a punishment option, for carriers versus non-carriers of Met/Met genotype of COMT-rs4680. Bars represent standard errors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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