MAOA Gene and Neophilia
Several people have been searching for the MAOA gene over the last few days so I knew recent findings must have been interesting. I’ve previously posted about the gene’s association with violent behavior but after a little digging, I found that the surge of recent interest has to do with a slightly dated study in the April 2006 issue of Psychiatric Genetics.
The study found that in 324 Japanese volunteers without psychiatric disorders, men with at least one copy of the high activity variant of the MAOA gene and women with two copies had higher scores for novelty seeking and reward dependence.
Julian Ryall in The Scotsman makes all this much more entertaining by relating genetics to people’s insatiable desire for the latest new gadget also known as neophilia. Smells like another excuse to me.
Technorati Tags: monoamine oxidase a, genetics, genes, dna, maoa gene, maoa, gadgets, neophilia, novelty seeking, shopaholic
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POSTED IN: General Genetics and Health
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2 opinions for MAOA Gene and Neophilia
Hokimoana
Oct 8, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Thats funny my people (maori) told me that the gene that makes us alcoholics, drug addicts, gamblers, obese were introduced from another civilised race (they say) European. If I can recall we did not have alcohol, the only drugs we had were medicinal,eg. koromiko, horopito, kumarahou etc and these were made to heal not kill. We didn’t have Mc Donalds, Kentucky etc which from clever scientific research say they have a high content of fat. Big difference from what diet our people consumed eg fish, fernroot etc and they survived for centuries with out any pain or suffering
Interested High School Student
Oct 19, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Um….Excuse me…I was wondering how I could get ahold of Mrs. Hsien Hsien Lei? I am doing a research paper in my High School Genetics class on The Violent gene and I was wondering if she had any interesting things to tell me. Someone can contact me at this e-mail address: asktasukete@juno.com
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