"a substantial proportion of Europeans and Africans have a variation on ADRA2b that deletes the alpha2b adrenoreceptor, possibly cutting some of the wires on the norepinephrine brakes. People with this deletion had stronger memories of emotionally charged events, a 2007 study found. Todd and graduate student Mana Ehlers wanted to see if this deletion might affect how people perceived emotional images...
For both groups, viewing emotional images increased activity in the lateral amygdala, an area of the brain involved in emotional processing. But people with the ADRA2b deletion had an extra input from an area called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. This brain area is “related to emotional processing and internal emotional experience,” Ehlers explains. “It’s putting the emotional experience into context based on your own experiences. Our genetics, at least in part, determine whether we perceive emotions more strongly or more vividly.” Ehlers, Todd and their collaborators published their results April 22 in the Journal of Neuroscience."
I'm sure it's a lot more complicated than "person has version of gene, person has vmPFC input". It's probably more like that network Always develops in people with one version, and sometimes doesn't in people with a different version. But it's cool to see a study going from a specific gene to neurological activity to human cognitive behavior.
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