http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-workaholic12aug12.story THE NATION
Injections Temporarily Turn Slacker Monkeys Into Model Workers
By Alan Zarembo
Times Staff Writer
August 12, 2004
Laboratory monkeys that started out as careless procrastinators became super-efficient workers after injections into their brains that suppressed a gene linked to their ability to anticipate a reward.
The monkeys, which had been taught a computer game that rewarded them with drops of water and juice, lost their slacker ways and worked faster while making fewer errors.
Government researchers used a new technique to temporarily block a gene, known as D2, that normally produces receptors for the brain chemical dopamine — a component in the perception of pleasure and satisfaction.
Terrence Sejnowski, a neurobiologist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, called the experiment a "tour de force" for opening a new way of modulating brain chemistry. "The ability to block a specific type of receptor in a specific part of the brain could allow a new generation of therapeutics with fewer side effects," he said.<snip>
It turns out that the work ethic of rhesus monkeys resembles that of many humans.<snip>