Biomedical subjects

Jordan B Peterson

Publications and source records attributed to Jordan B Peterson.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

The dopamine D4 receptor gene and moderation of the association between externalizing behavior and IQ.

BACKGROUND: Dopaminergic neurotransmission is implicated in externalizing behavior problems, such as aggression and hyperactivity. Externalizing behavior is known to be negatively associated with cognitive ability. Activation of dopamine D4 receptors appears to inhibit the functioning of the prefrontal cortex, a brain region implicated in cognitive ability. The 7-repeat allele of the dopamine D4 receptor gene produces less efficient receptors, relative to other alleles, and this may alter the effects of dopamine on cognitive function. OBJECTIVE: To examine the influence of a polymorphism in the third exon of the dopamine D4 receptor gene on the association between externalizing behavior and IQ. DESIGN: In 1 community sample and 2 clinical samples, the presence or absence of the 7-repeat allele was examined as a moderator of the association between externalizing behavior and IQ; the strength of this effect across samples was estimated meta-analytically. PATIENTS: Eighty-seven boys from a longitudinal community study, 48 boys referred clinically for aggression, and 42 adult males diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: IQ scores and observer ratings of externalizing behavior were taken from existing data sets. RESULTS: Among individuals lacking the 7-repeat allele, externalizing behavior was negatively correlated with IQ (mean r = -0.43; P<.001). Among individuals having at least 1 copy of the 7-repeat allele, externalizing behavior and IQ were uncorrelated (mean r = 0.02; P = .45). The difference between these correlations was significant (z = -2.99; P<.01). CONCLUSIONS: Allelic variation of the dopamine D4 receptor gene appears to be a genetic factor moderating the association between externalizing behavior and cognitive ability. This finding may help to elucidate the adaptive value of the 7-repeat allele.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Heart rate increase to alcohol administration and video lottery terminal play among probable pathological gamblers and nonpathological gamblers.

The authors examined heart-rate responses to alcohol consumption and video lottery terminal (VLT) play. Regular VLT players (30 probable pathological gamblers [PPGs]; 30 nonpathological gamblers [NPGs]) were randomized to an alcohol (mean postdrinking blood alcohol concentration = 0.056%) or placebo condition. Heart rate was recorded at pre- and postdrinking baselines and during VLT play. Consistent with an earlier study, alcohol-condition participants displayed elevated heart rates relative to placebo-condition participants only at postdrinking and VLT play. Moreover, alcohol-condition participants showed a greater heart rate increase to VLT play than did placebo-condition participants. However, PPGs were not more susceptible to alcohol- and/or VLT play-induced heart rate accelerations than were NPGs. Implications for gambling/alcohol-disorder comorbidity are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Self-liking and self-competence separate self-evaluation from self-deception: associations with personality, ability, and achievement.

The similarities between measures of self-evaluation and self-deception are reviewed, and a method for discriminating between them is proposed, using personality profiles and relations to ability and achievement. Across two samples, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and Tafarodi's measures of self-evaluation were used to demonstrate that the RSES and Self-Liking are more similar to Self-Deceptive Enhancement than is self-competence. Further, Self-Competence is uniquely associated with cognitive ability and both academic and creative achievement. It is concluded that, along with self-liking, self-competence is a useful form of self-evaluation that should be measured and taken into account in research that has traditionally focused on self-esteem.

Achievement↗

PubMed2006

NUANCE 3.0: using genetic programming to model variable relationships.

Previously, we introduced a new computational tool for nonlinear curve fitting and data set exploration: the Naturalistic University of Alberta Nonlinear Correlation Explorer (NUANCE) (Hollis & Westbury, 2006). We demonstrated that NUANCE was capable of providing useful descriptions of data for two toy problems. Since then, we have extended the functionality of NUANCE in a new release (NUANCE 3.0) and fruitfully applied the tool to real psychological problems. Here, we discuss the results of two studies carried out with the aid of NUANCE 3.0. We demonstrate that NUANCE can be a useful tool to aid research in psychology in at least two ways: It can be harnessed to simplify complex models of human behavior, and it is capable of highlighting useful knowledge that might be overlooked by more traditional analytical and factorial approaches. NUANCE 3.0 can be downloaded from the Psychonomic Society Archive of Norms, Stimuli, and Data at www.psychonomic.org/archive.

Electronic Data Processing↗

PubMed2006

Differential effects of naltrexone on cardiac, subjective and behavioural reactions to acute ethanol intoxication.

OBJECTIVE: Alcohol may have psychomotor stimulant properties during the rising limb of the blood alcohol curve at commonly self-administered doses. Increased heart rate (HR) immediately after alcohol consumption may serve as an indicator or marker of such properties, which appear to be potentially opiate-mediated and dopamine-dependent. Naltrexone, an opiate antagonist, has been used successfully in the treatment of alcoholism and may produce its therapeutic effects through its effects on alcohol metabolism or by blocking alcohol's rewarding effects. We hypothesized that, if naltrexone blocks the psychomotor stimulant properties of ethanol, then it would decrease or eliminate the HR increase associated with acute alcohol intoxication and that this would be independent of any effect on alcohol metabolism. METHODS: Twenty male subjects were administered placebo and alcohol (1.0 mL 95% USP ethanol/kg body weight) in a laboratory setting on one day and naltrexone (50 mg) and alcohol on another (counterbalanced). We assessed all subjects for a change in HR and for a subjective and behavioural response from 35 to 170 minutes after drug or alcohol administration. RESULTS: The placebo and alcohol mix produced a significant mean HR increase from baseline (F(1,95) = 46.01, p < 0.0001, Cohen's d = 0.62), while naltrexone and alcohol did not (nonsignificant). The significant effects of naltrexone on blood alcohol level did not account for the effect of naltrexone on alcohol-induced HR change but did account for alterations in subjective and behavioural response to alcohol. CONCLUSIONS: Naltrexone appears to substantially reduce the HR increase that is characteristic of alcohol intoxication. This finding appears to lend moderate support to the notions that, first, naltrexone has differential effects on alcohol reactions and, second, that it specifically blocks the acute psychomotor stimulant properties of alcohol.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Matching effects on eating: do individual differences make a difference?

Dyads composed of unacquainted females watched a video while snacking on pizza. Their extraversion and self-monitoring scores were used to predict the extent to which individuals within dyads matched each other's food intake. Matching of intake was high irrespective of the personality composition of the dyad. We consider elements of the situation that enhanced matching and whether personality might moderate matching effects.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Sources of openness/intellect: cognitive and neuropsychological correlates of the fifth factor of personality.

We characterize Openness/Intellect as motivated cognitive flexibility, or cognitive exploration, and develop a neuropsychological model relating it to dopaminergic function and to the functions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Evidence is reviewed for sources of Openness/Intellect shared with Extraversion and sources unique to Openness/Intellect. The hypothesis that the cognitive functions of the dorsolateral PFC are among the latter was tested using standard measures of cognitive ability and a battery of tasks associated with dorsolateral PFC function (N=175). Dorsolateral PFC function, as well as both fluid and crystallized cognitive ability, was positively related to Openness/Intellect but no other personality trait. Additionally, facet level analysis supported the characterization of Openness/Intellect as a primarily cognitive trait.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Defensive copers show a deficit in passive avoidance learning on Newman's go/no-go task: implications for self-deception and socialization.

The present study investigated whether passive avoidance learning was retarded by defensive coping strategies designed to minimize exposure to negatively valenced stimuli. High-anxious individuals, low-anxious individuals, and defensive copers completed a computerized go/no-go task, in which they learned when to press or not to press a button, in response to contingent positive and negative feedback. The duration that feedback remained onscreen was self-regulated. Defensive copers showed preferential reflection away from negative feedback, committed more passive-avoidance errors, and were characterized by impaired learning, overall. Further, the ratio of reflection on negative feedback to reflection on positive feedback directly mediated both passive-avoidance errors and overall learning. Defensive coping strategies, therefore, appear to interfere with passive avoidance learning, thereby fostering perseverative, dysfunctional action patterns by reducing knowledge gained from previous mistakes. Implications for the learning of effective socialization strategies, and for psychopathy-which is commonly characterized by similar passive-avoidance deficits-are subsequently considered.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2003

Decreased latent inhibition is associated with increased creative achievement in high-functioning individuals.

Reductions in latent inhibition (LI), the capacity to screen from conscious awareness stimuli previously experienced as irrelevant, have been generally associated with the tendency towards psychosis. However, "failure" to screen out previously irrelevant stimuli might also hypothetically contribute to original thinking, particularly in combination with high IQ. Meta-analysis of two studies, conducted on youthful high-IQ samples. demonstrated that high lifetime creative achievers had significantly lower LI scores than low creative achievers (r(effect size) = .31, p = .0003, one-tailed). Eminent creative achievers (participants under 21 years who reported unusually high scores in a single domain of creative achievement) were 7 times more likely to have low rather than high LI scores, chi2 (1, N = 25) = 10.69, phi = .47. p = .003.

Achievement↗

PubMed2002

Complexity management theory: motivation for ideological rigidity and social conflict.

We are doomed to formulate conceptual structures that are much simpler than the complex phenomena they are attempting to account for. These simple conceptual structures shield us, pragmatically, from real-world complexity, but also fail, frequently, as some aspect of what we did not take into consideration makes itself manifest. The failure of our concepts dysregulates our emotions and generates anxiety, necessarily, as the unconstrained world is challenging and dangerous. Such dysregulation can turn us into rigid, totalitarian dogmatists, as we strive to maintain the structure of our no longer valid beliefs. Alternatively, we can face the underlying complexity of experience, voluntarily, gather new information, and recast and reconfigure the structures that underly our habitable worlds.

Amygdala↗