tim's journal

Someone turn off my D2

Betterhumans reported today on some astounding new research from the US National Institute of Mental Health (Bethesda, MD). According to Dr. Barry Richmond, we procrastinate because of a properly functioning reward learning system. When the reward is far off or difficult to attain (as in, completing a thesis) we slack off - well, at least I sometimes do. As the reward becomes closer and more sure, we then pick up the pace.

Here's the experiment. A bunch of monkeys are trained to release a lever when the spot on the monitor changes from red to green. If they do good, the status bar gets closer to the goal. When they get to the goal, they get a juice treat. The researchers based their research on the fact that untweaked monkeys had fewer errors as they got closer to getting the reward. They then injected the monkeys into the rhinal cortex (straight into the brain) with a molecule which shuts off expression of a gene encoding receptor called D2 for several weeks. The result? Tweaked monkeys became "extreme workaholics" attaining a consistent low rate of error. Hmm...

How does the molecule work? It appears that the molecule is a genetic mirror image of the area which produces the relevant protein - DNA antisense. I can see this becoming the new drug of choice.