Science Ticker Genetics

How you bet is affected by your genes

Genes that control the brain chemical dopamine have been associated with the bets we make, whether at the poker table or in other areas of life.

Adrian Sampson/FLICKR (CC BY 2.0)

By Ashley Yeager

When people play a simple betting game, their decisions are influenced by variations in a set of genes that control the brain chemical dopamine, researchers report June 16 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The finding supports the idea that genetic variation forms an important source of variation in how people make strategic decisions and in other complex behaviors, the scientists say.

About Ashley Yeager

Ashley Yeager is the associate news editor at Science News. She has worked at The Scientist, the Simons Foundation, Duke University and the W.M. Keck Observatory, and was the web producer for Science News from 2013 to 2015. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a master’s degree in science writing from MIT.

More Stories from Science News on Genetics

  1. Genetics

    ‘Woolly mice’ were just a start. De-extinction still faces many hurdles

    By Jason Bittel
  2. Genetics

    What 23andMe’s bankruptcy means for your genetic data

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  3. Animals

    How a Labrador retriever’s genes might affect the dog’s obesity risk

    By Alex Viveros
  4. Humans

    Biological sex is not as simple as male or female

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  5. Animals

    Mole or marsupial? This subterranean critter with a backward pouch is both

    By Susan Milius
  6. Genetics

    Iron Age Celtic women’s social and political power just got a boost

    By Bruce Bower
  7. Health & Medicine

    The spread of breast cancer may be inherited

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  8. Genetics

    Neandertal genes in people today came from hook-ups around 47,000 years ago

    By McKenzie Prillaman
Use up and down arrow keys to explore.Use right arrow key to move into the list.Use left arrow key to move back to the parent list.Use tab key to enter the current list item.Use escape to exit the menu.Use the Shift key with the Tab key to tab back to the search input.