Same Gene Makes You Gloomy and Optimistic

A new study has revealed that the gene responsible for making people "gloomy" - the short version of the 5-HTTLPR, could also help them in being more positive.

Elaine Fox and his colleagues from the University of Essex in Colchester, UK, tested the volunteers of the study by performing computer exercises on them that would test how quickly they could identify a target placed over a positive or negative image shown side by side.

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In some of the exercises, the team always flashed positive or negative images on the targets - 62 people with the short variant of the gene and 54 with the long version.

It was observed that targets with the short variation adapted themselves to this bias of being flashed with similar images and identified the target 40 to 60 milliseconds faster as compared to when the target was randomly assigned whereas the reactions of those with the long variant remained somewhat unaffected.

"The short version is not just a vulnerability variant," New Scientist quoted Fox as saying.

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Source-ANI

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