Some people are highly motivated and some others are not? Why?
Why is that some people study more and work more and some others slack off? Is it something in our brain?
Latest issue of the journal, Molecular
Psychiatry, reports that perhaps the Dopamine 2 Receptors in the part of the brain called ventral striatum may be responsible for the differences.
Dopamine is a well known neurotransmitter known to be responsible for response to rewarding stimuli.
There are different kinds of receptors for Dopamine and one of them, Dopamine 2 Receptor is found in different parts of the brain.
Scientists used a virus as a vector to put more copies of the gene for Dopamine 2 receptor to increase the expression of the receptor in different areas of rat brain.
When Dopamine 2 receptor was increased in ventral striatum, the rats showed increased motivation - measured by Instrumental learning, willingness to work towards goals and modulation of behaviour by rewards.
Scientists believe that this understanding may one day, be used to treat mental illnesses that come in the way of using effort to achieve goals - including certain types of obesity and addiction.
P Trifilieff et al. Molecular Psychiatry (2013) 18, 1025–1033
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