Intellectual Investment, Dopaminergic Gene Variation, and Life Events: A Critical Examination
Need for Cognition (NFC) and Openness to Ideas are intellectual investment traits that are characterized by a tendency to seek out, engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activity. Little, however, is known about the extent to which they are influenced by genetic and environmental factors. With the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2018-07-01
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| Series: | Personality Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513988618000020/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1811155725239451648 |
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| author | Alexander Strobel Anja Strobel Sören Enge Monika Fleischhauer Andreas Reif Klaus-Peter Lesch Kristin Anacker |
| author_facet | Alexander Strobel Anja Strobel Sören Enge Monika Fleischhauer Andreas Reif Klaus-Peter Lesch Kristin Anacker |
| author_sort | Alexander Strobel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Need for Cognition (NFC) and Openness to Ideas are intellectual investment traits that are characterized by a tendency to seek out, engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activity. Little, however, is known about the extent to which they are influenced by genetic and environmental factors. With the present contribution, we aim at furthering our knowledge on the mechanisms underlying intellectual investment traits by following-up on a recent investigation of the role of dopaminergic gene variation in intellectual investment. Employing a standard approach that relied on null-hypothesis significance testing, we found that, first, two dopaminergic genetic variants interacted in modulating individual differences in NFC, but not in Openness to Ideas; that, second, negative life events played a role in the modulation of Openness to Ideas, but not of NFC; and that, third, negative life events as assessed using another measure were only marginally related to Openness to Ideas while positive life events were associated with both Openness to Ideas and NFC, with the latter effect being also dependent on DRD4 exon III genotype. However, employing a Bayesian approach, the assumption of a genetic effect on investment traits was overall not supported, while the assumption of a role of positive life events in the modulation of investment traits could be confirmed, with a tentative increment in the prediction of NFC by adding an interaction of positive life events and DRD4 variation to the main effect of positive life events. Our findings underscore the importance to use different approaches in the field of personality neuroscience. To gain deeper insight into the basis of personality traits does not only require to consider genetic as well as environmental influences and their interplay, but also requires more differentiated statistical analyses that can at least in part tackle the often inconsistent findings in this field. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:39:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-30ad93c6e5294aab8f2c150132447022 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2513-9886 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:39:23Z |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Personality Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-30ad93c6e5294aab8f2c1501324470222023-03-09T12:43:12ZengCambridge University PressPersonality Neuroscience2513-98862018-07-01110.1017/pen.2018.2Intellectual Investment, Dopaminergic Gene Variation, and Life Events: A Critical ExaminationAlexander Strobel0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9426-5397Anja Strobel1Sören Enge2Monika Fleischhauer3Andreas Reif4Klaus-Peter Lesch5Kristin Anacker6Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, GermanyFaculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Psychology, MSB Medical School Berlin, Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, Brandenburg Medical School, Neuruppin, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt/Main, Frankfurt/Main, GermanySection of Molecular Psychiatry, Laboratory of Translational Neuroscience, Center of Mental Health, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany Laboratory of Psychiatric Neurobiology, Institute of Molecular Medicine, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia Department of Translational Neuroscience, School of Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The NetherlandsFaculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GermanyNeed for Cognition (NFC) and Openness to Ideas are intellectual investment traits that are characterized by a tendency to seek out, engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activity. Little, however, is known about the extent to which they are influenced by genetic and environmental factors. With the present contribution, we aim at furthering our knowledge on the mechanisms underlying intellectual investment traits by following-up on a recent investigation of the role of dopaminergic gene variation in intellectual investment. Employing a standard approach that relied on null-hypothesis significance testing, we found that, first, two dopaminergic genetic variants interacted in modulating individual differences in NFC, but not in Openness to Ideas; that, second, negative life events played a role in the modulation of Openness to Ideas, but not of NFC; and that, third, negative life events as assessed using another measure were only marginally related to Openness to Ideas while positive life events were associated with both Openness to Ideas and NFC, with the latter effect being also dependent on DRD4 exon III genotype. However, employing a Bayesian approach, the assumption of a genetic effect on investment traits was overall not supported, while the assumption of a role of positive life events in the modulation of investment traits could be confirmed, with a tentative increment in the prediction of NFC by adding an interaction of positive life events and DRD4 variation to the main effect of positive life events. Our findings underscore the importance to use different approaches in the field of personality neuroscience. To gain deeper insight into the basis of personality traits does not only require to consider genetic as well as environmental influences and their interplay, but also requires more differentiated statistical analyses that can at least in part tackle the often inconsistent findings in this field.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513988618000020/type/journal_articleNeed for CognitionOpenness to Ideasinvestment traitsdopamine gene variationlife events |
| spellingShingle | Alexander Strobel Anja Strobel Sören Enge Monika Fleischhauer Andreas Reif Klaus-Peter Lesch Kristin Anacker Intellectual Investment, Dopaminergic Gene Variation, and Life Events: A Critical Examination Personality Neuroscience Need for Cognition Openness to Ideas investment traits dopamine gene variation life events |
| title | Intellectual Investment, Dopaminergic Gene Variation, and Life Events: A Critical Examination |
| title_full | Intellectual Investment, Dopaminergic Gene Variation, and Life Events: A Critical Examination |
| title_fullStr | Intellectual Investment, Dopaminergic Gene Variation, and Life Events: A Critical Examination |
| title_full_unstemmed | Intellectual Investment, Dopaminergic Gene Variation, and Life Events: A Critical Examination |
| title_short | Intellectual Investment, Dopaminergic Gene Variation, and Life Events: A Critical Examination |
| title_sort | intellectual investment dopaminergic gene variation and life events a critical examination |
| topic | Need for Cognition Openness to Ideas investment traits dopamine gene variation life events |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513988618000020/type/journal_article |
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