Turning Slackers Into Workaholics
Question:
All work & no play makes Jack a VERY DULL boy!!!! —The Shining
Response:
I’ll have to get off these pills then. "Chesucat" <m…@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:2o1f1jF5ulqhU1@uni-berlin.de… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,64550,00.html > 03:15 PM Aug. 11, 2004 PT > Procrastinating monkeys were turned into workaholics using a gene treatment > to block a key brain compound, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday. > Blocking cells from receiving dopamine made the monkeys work harder at a task > — and they were better at it, too, the U.S. government researchers found. > Dr. Barry Richmond and colleagues at the National Institute of Mental Health > used a new genetic technique to block the D2 gene. > "The gene makes a receptor for a key brain messenger chemical, dopamine," > Richmond said in a statement. Dopamine is a message-carrying chemical > associated with rewards, movement and a variety of other important functions. > "The gene knockdown triggered a remarkable transformation in the simian work > ethic. Like many of us, monkeys normally slack off initially in working toward > a distant goal," he added. > For their study, Richmond and colleagues used seven rhesus monkeys. They had > to push a lever in response to visual cues on a projection screen, and got a > dropof water as a reward. > "They work more efficiently — make fewer errors — as they get closer to > being rewarded. But without the dopamine receptor, they consistently stayed > on-task and made few errors, because they could no longer learn to use visual > cues to predict how their work was going to get them a reward." > Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Richmond and > colleagues said they were trying to figure out how D2 is involved in a type > of learning. > Humans and monkeys both use this learning, which involves looking at how much > work there is, visually, and deciding how long it will take to complete it. > Monkeys and humans both tend to wait until the last possible minute to finish > up the work, and become very adept at estimating how long they have. > Molecular geneticist Edward Ginns created a DNA antisense agent that tricked > brain cells into turning off their D2 receptors — which are molecular > doorways used by dopamine to get into cells. > Antisense involves making a kind of mirror-image molecule that looks like a > strand of DNA and works to block a gene’s action. > Although some employers might take a distinct interest in the work, the NIMH > team said they are hoping to understand mental illness. > "In this case, it’s worth noting that the ability to associate work with > reward is disturbed in mental disorders, including schizophrenia, mood > disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder, so our finding of the pivotal > role played by this gene and circuit may be of clinical interest," > Richmond said. > "For example, people who are depressed often feel nothing is worth the work. > People with obsessive-compulsive disorder work incessantly; even when they > get rewarded they feel they must repeat the task. In mania, people will work > feverishly for rewards that aren’t worth the trouble to most of us." > This will be good, no? > <chesucat twitches> > — > chesucat_at_sdf_dit_lonestar_dot_org_dah! > SDF Public Access UNIX System, Est. 1987 <http://sdf.lonestar.org/> > "Hello, my name is chesucat and I approved this message!"
