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People with novelty seeking trait feel more compelled with average person to seek out new and exiting experiences. The problem is that every body’s brain crave dopamine, so the people with natural shortage of dopamine output have to overcompensate. They find it hard to keep themselves satisfied with the ordinary, slow-moving pace of just about everything in their life. While most of us happy and relatively satisfied doing most of these things, they quickly bore people with novelty seeking gene. That means this restless souls have to go looking for action anywhere they can find in order to stir up some more DOPAMINE just to feel “normal” . (Nick tasler – the impulse factor)Experiment;
Dopamine D4 receptor (D4DR) exon III polymorphism associated with the human personality trait of Novelty Seeking.
The tridimensional personality questionnaire (TPQ)
•Designed to measure aspects of temperament:
–Novelty Seeking
–Harm Avoidance
–Reward Dependence
-Persistence
TPQ example Novelty Seeking questions
•True / False
•I often try new things just for fun or thrills, even if most people think it is a waste of time. (T)
•I often do things based on how I feel at the moment without thinking about how they were done in the past. (T)
•I am much more controlled than most people. (F)
•High score on the Novelty Seeking scale:
–impulsive, exploratory, fickle, excitable, quick-tempered, extravagant
•Low score on the Novelty Seeking scale:
–reflective, rigid, loyal, stoic, slow-tempered, frugal
Individual differences in Novelty Seeking were associated with genetic differences related to the neurotransmitter dopamine and its receptors. Evidence suggesting that dopamine, and particularly D4DR polymorphisms, are related to Novelty Seeking. Studies have shown that the number of exon III repeats can affect the affinity of ligand (proteins or drugs) that bind to the receptor. D4DR is expressed in limbic areas involved in cognition and emotion. Dopamine mediates exploratory behavior in experimental animals. The rewarding effects of amphetamines and cocaine are related to dopamine release. Novelty Seeking is low in dopamine-deficient patients with Parkinson’s disease.
( Richard Ebstein et al., 1996)
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