Researchers have been able to unearth the gene responsible for controlling the part of the brain that is responsible for behaving according to a norm in the social circumstances.
In a revealing study, researchers from National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have been able to establish the neural pathway that decides the social behavior in people. Researchers results came as they were trying to define the neural circuit for people suffering from the genetic abnormality called the Williams Syndrome.Scientists have for sometime have suspected that abnormal processing in the amygdala in the brain may be responsible for the unusual pattern of behavior that is shown by the patients suffering from the disease called Williams Syndrome. This conditions results from the loss of 21 genes on the chromosome 7 and makes people behave in a highly social and empathetic way, even in situations that may cause stress to healthy normal people. The people who suffer from this disease often feel anxiety or phobia about some non-social issue that may cause them to worry unnecessarily.
Researchers in their study had reported the existence of a network between the dorsolateral, the medial, and the orbitofrontal cortex are of the brain that together modulate the activities of amygdala. In normal human beings, the network works normally, but shows excessive abnormal functions in people suffering from Williams Syndrome.
Reference: Nature Neuroscience, July 2005
