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August 13, 2004
But what about their blood pressure?
Scientists have managed to turn procrastinating primates into workaholic monkeys by switching off a gene in the brain circuit.Like many humans, monkeys tend to slack when a goal is distant, but work harder as a deadline looms. But scientists in the United States have found a gene therapy - blocking the brain messenger chemical, dopamine - that makes the animals work hard all the time.
The monkeys, which had been trained to perform simple computer tasks in return for treats, lost their sense of balance between a reward and the work required to earn it, says a team at the National Institute of Mental Health, in Bethesda, Maryland.
The team used a technique to turn off a gene that makes a receptor for dopamine, said Dr Barry Richmond. "The gene knockdown triggered a remarkable transformation in the simian work ethic. Without the dopamine receptor, they consistently stayed on-task and made few errors.
"This was conspicuously out of character for these animals," he added. "Like people, they tend to procrastinate when they know they will have to do more work."
Posted by Mike at August 13, 2004 01:18 AM
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