Losligato

ScienceDaily (June 26, 2008) — Wellcome Trust scientists have identified a key region of the brain which encourages us to be adventurous. The region, located in a primitive area of the brain, is activated when we choose unfamiliar options, suggesting an evolutionary advantage for sampling the unknown. It may also explain why re-branding of familiar products encourages to pick them off the supermarket shelves. Read the full article at ScienceDaily>

Machka 

Interesting article!

I think my ventral striatum might be a little overactive! I bore easily ... not in an "ADHD" sort of way ... but in that I have trouble sticking with one course of action for any length of time. I'm ideally suited for temp work & touring because I can work for a while, then take off to another part of the world to tour for a while, then work at something else for a while, then take some new and interesting courses, then take off to a different part of the world to tour for a while, then work for a while at a different job .....

freako

Machka? You having trouble with sticking to one course of action? You have more degrees then anyone I've ever known, and being in the military for over 35 years with later 20 years in the field of intellegence I ran into many highly educated people...but you take the prize for the most degrees and certificates from a widely varied disciplines!!! I mean that respectfully by the way.

Machka 

That's what I'm talking about! I get into one field ... work at it a while, get bored ... get into another field, work at it a little while, get bored ... get into another field ........... I do fairly well at the fields I've chosen, and I enjoy them ... but I just like variety. I could never see myself doing one job or type of job for the rest of my life.

I've also moved a lot, especially when I was younger, and have travelled a lot. Maybe that influenced me too.

Newspaperguy

I've got a friend who thinks the same way. He's lived here for six or seven years and in that time, he's had at least six or seven jobs, all of which have been his own businesses. He works hard and does well at them but after a year, give or take, he wants to move on to something else. I don't understand how he makes it work for himself since I prefer to stay with at the same place or at least in the same field.

Machka 

Well, I did manage to stay working in one place for 8 years, but in that time I completed my Business Admin diploma, and got my certification in software development so those things kept me from getting too bored. I also travelled/cycled all over Manitoba, as well as cycling in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, parts of the US, and Europe (twice).

I could have probably stayed at that place for the rest of my life, or at least working life, but that idea didn't appeal to me at all, so I packed up, took a 3-month cycling tour of Australia, returned to Canada, and started working on my Bachelor of Education.

Since then I've been working temp jobs (while and in between going to university) which works very well for me. I could actually see myself doing temp work for the rest of my working career. It allows me to move from one place to another with no hard feelings on anyone's part.

In about a year, I'll be finished my B-Ed, so I'm planning to uproot again.

And like you have trouble understanding your friend ... I have trouble understanding how someone could stay in one place.

axolotl

Thanks for the link, Losligato. I read the article, but I question how adventurous the average person really is. Think about food, for example. There are an awful lot of people (maybe even a majority) who will always stick to the tried and true and hesitate to try anything new. Hence the popularity of bland chain restaurants in the developed world. The same thing for travel. How many folks who are fortunate enough to be able to travel keep returning to the same place, year after year? Or even if they go to a new destination, it's nonetheless similar culturally (USA/Canada/Europe/Australia/NZ) and/or considered "non-risky".

Losligato

Yeah, I guess risk is a relative thing. It is fascinating to me because Amanda is far more adventurous than I am. She will plunge in over her head with the confidence that things will work out. I will constantly be plotting the details, and often become buried in them. I wondered if this was a learned behavior or if we have differing levels of predisposition.

While this does not really answer the nature/nurture question, it shows the place in the brain where it is happening. The fact that it is the primitive area in a place where addictive tendencies are regulated is quite puzzling...

freako

Military brat? I like variety as well, the military provides that, as did the intellegence field.

Machka 

No ... I think my father has an overactive ventral striatum too. He has done all sorts of things throughout his life too ... and took us all over western Canada to do it.

Clarenza

Losligato, really interesting link, thanks. Might explain a lot about us tourers.

Machka, it might have nothing to do with your ventral striatum, maybe it's just that your version of the DRD4 gene is the '7R allele? Check out https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0609195604.htm

Losligato

The article equates seeking new and unfamiliar experiences with being adventurous. I like that definition.

This morning, for the first time in my life, I rode as the stoker on a tandem in our organized group ride. Adventurous? Handing over control to another rider was an adventure to me!