"Thirst for excitement is hidden in your genes"
Psychological Science recently published an article on a study that attempted to see if sensation seeking is genetically determined. Scientists performed this by a new method which used a mutation on genes in the dopamine system to see if sensation seeking is predetermined. Sensation seeking is caused by the chemical neurotransmitter dopamine.
Jaime Derringer, a Phd student from the University of Minnesota, chose to use this new method. She used the DNA mutation, SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism), which causes a single letter change in the DNA. She chose 8 genes that played different parts with the chemical dopamine. She used a sample of 635 people that were involved in an addiction study. For each individual she knew the genetic information for 273 SNP's, that were already recognized to appear in those 8 genes, and a score for how determined they were for sensation seeking.
She used this data to cut down from 273 SNP's to 12 essential ones. These 12 were combined and showed a difference in sensation seeking under 4%. This is a large number for such a small sample size, and showed that there was a small effect.
There is not enough information about the effect genes play on behavior. However, this method was the real discovery, and can be used to see the role biology plays in behavior.I think this new method can be very essential in finding if certain behaviors are genetically inclined. However, more research needs to be done before checking everyone for mutations.
I always love a good debate about nature versus nurture. There is the genetic information put together during sexual reproduction for a person, and there are the effects of the environment around that person, starting from life in the womb. Everything comes together to create an entirely unique being that will grow and interact with the world around him/her, and that very same being will be a stimulus in the environment for other developing beings!
ReplyDeleteThe article you chose to write about was very thought provoking. Experiments like this one are so intriguing, because they are (very slowly) piecing together the relationship between nature, and nurture, and the behaviors of an individual. If would be interesting to see the results if these doctors and scientists went on to study a wider range of people with larger numbers and different preferences for sensation seeking.
Is it possible that the dopamine levels are more for addiction to drugs or adrenaline or just addiction in general? Isn't it true that there is a part of the brain responsible for having an "addictive personality?" If so, are sensation seeking and addiction the same?