Some People Just Never Learn 327
Iddo Genuth writes "German scientists recently showed what many of us suspected but could not prove — some people just don't learn. The German researchers have found a genetic factor that affects our ability to learn from our errors. The scientists demonstrated that men carrying the A1 mutation are less successful at learning to avoid mistakes than men who do not carry this genetic mutation. This finding has the potential to improve our understanding of the causes of addictive and compulsive behaviors."
If A1 is still found today... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:What does this have to do with OCD? (Score:3, Interesting)
Dopamine (Score:3, Interesting)
Just wait till the general public get hold of this (Score:4, Interesting)
I call them me (Score:5, Interesting)
I tend to bang my brain against new concepts again and again, until I finally understand them in big chunks. I tend to overlook the obvious, and go for the bizarre interpretations of things.
So I often find myself in situations where I feel stupid for not grasping something that is readily apparent to most everyone else, but at the same time I've been successful with teaching myself certain concepts other people wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole.
For instance, I've taught myself how to program in Haskell, whereas most programmers run screaming from anything with more than a minimal functional paradigm component. It did take me quite a while to get some concepts in Haskell, though.
Learn1 Learn2 != Learn = 0 (Score:4, Interesting)
It's just harder.
Seriously, it doesn't mean they don't learn (the title of this
It's like saying that Americans can't speak more than two languages. Most have never tried, nor had the easy resources to do so, but they could probably learn additional languages, even if it might be harder here.
Re:Of all races.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Article and/or research is not so good... (Score:2, Interesting)
Somehow, I doubt that seeing a smiley face is enough of a reward to make the subject avoid making the same choice again. I mean, the angry face might look more interesting, or the subject might just wonder what happens if the takes the other card (given that he took the happy one first).
I'm just saying - there could be many reasons other than "not learning" why a person picks the symbol that gives an unhappy face as a result. Hopefully, the scientists thought of this, but it's not in the article (as far as I can tell).
In other news... (Score:3, Interesting)
"Bill Gates Says Capitalism Shouldn't Be So Cut-Throat"
"Microsoft Says Current Windows Is The Most Secure"
Re:Of all races.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:So that explains... (Score:2, Interesting)
Luckily, Ohio did learn from its mistake, and kicked the republican governor out of office to years later.
Re:I call them me (Score:3, Interesting)
My problem is more with people who, when finding out they are wired differently, then say "oh, it's not my fault, it's my genetics" and proceed to not even try to learn. Obviously this isn't the GP, but for far too many people, things like this (and say, ADHD, Aspergers, etc) become an excuse to be trotted out when convenient, not a hurdle to be overcome.
Re:So that explains... (Score:3, Interesting)
Whether or not enough votes were faked/switched/stolen to steal the election, it seems indisputable that about five out of ten U.S voters voted for Bush in 2004. And turnout was sixty percent, so really seven out of ten * registered voters either didn't care if Bush got re-elected or they voted for him. Having known and worked with many Americans in the United States for several years centred around the 2004 election, I still don't know how to account for that widespread amount of mass wilful ignorance and/or active malice.
I think, having known many Americans, that I have much more trouble making sense of it than do people who have never lived among them.
* - 7/10 because 4/10 didn't vote and (50% * 6/10) voted for Bush.
Re:I call them me (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm reading a little anti-...oh, maybe anti-ADHD-diagnosis in this, among other things. Funny, this happened last time this story was reported here [slashdot.org]. Let me clear up a few things.
Lower output of dopamine (or some insufficiency of it in some way), which is what this article is about in the end, is implicated in ADHD. It's very well known that dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, is one of the few things responsible for your prefrontal cortex getting a jump-start when you need to reason about something. (Another is norepinephrine, the neurotransmitter associated with stress.) The prefrontal cortex is responsible for executive function: integrating memories, learning, predicting outcomes - a whole slew of things. Presumably, the dopamine squirt is what gets babies to learn to eat. Chew food -> dopamine + good feeling -> brain kicks into gear to figure out how to get it again.
Most healthy adults can start up the prefrontal cortex on demand. People with low levels of dopamine can't. From a neurological perspective, low levels of dopamine is obviously a bad thing.
When I was diagnosed with ADHD, I did my own research, including reading relevant papers from neuroscience literature. ADHD generally shows up in brain scans as decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex. Taking medication brings dopamine levels up to normal - it's why they prescribe stimulants. For anyone else it's a bad idea, but for people with ADHD it's normalizing.
(I'd be very interested to know whether these researchers at Max Planck have discovered any ties between this mutation and ADHD.)
Nearly all of my grade-school teachers suspected that I had ADHD and told my parents, but they never let on to me. Instead of being labeled "ADHD" or "damaged" or "worthless" (as you say), I got labeled "hyperactive" and "annoying" and "arrogant" and "difficult". I was 25 by the time I understood that something must be objectively different. By the time I was 31 I was feeling "damaged" and "worthless" without anyone ever saying those words to me. I had started affixing those labels to myself because of repeatedly failing to do things I knew I was perfectly capable of that I actually wanted very badly to do.
Still want to withhold diagnosis and treatment based on your preconceived notions of normal variation?
I don't. My son, who is like me in so many ways it's scary, is getting all the relevant information as soon as he's old enough to understand it. He's entitled to the full knowledge he'll need to decide who he wants to be. I never got that option.
Re:I call them me (Score:3, Interesting)
What, exactly, did you have trouble doing at 31 that you knew you were capable of? Now that you're on meds, have you accomplished those things? I'm 33 and I plenty of trouble picking up basic math concepts until halfway through 7th grade. I still can't grasp a lot of Calculus concepts, but I could give a rats ass now, since it won't help me with my career. I still can't stand doing basic chores like laundry, taking out the trash, and anything else that's not "fun". I would still rather spend 4 hours playing Team Fortress 2 than spending 3 hours cleaning the house and only 1 on TF2. Those are the realities of being an adult though.