Bad driving may have genetic basis開車技術差可能與基因有關

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Bad driving may have genetic basis

開車技術差可能與基因有關

The next time you see a motorist obliviously straddling two lanes, don’t fault bad driving, but genetics.

下次你見到開車者不自覺地跨雙線道行駛，別指責他們開車技術差，而要怪遺傳作祟。

In a study published recently in the journal Cerebral Cortex, researcher Steven Cramer found that people with a certain gene variant performed more than 30 percent worse on a driving test than people without it.

在最近發表於「大腦皮層」期刊的一項研究中，研究人員柯拉默發現，身上帶有一特定基因變異體的人，比沒有這種變異基因體的人在駕駛考試中要遜色30%以上。

The study might also help explain why there are so many bad drivers on U.S. highways：About 30 percent of Americans have the variant.

這項研究或許有助解釋美國公路為何有這麼多糟糕的司機出現：約30%美國人帶有這種基因變異體。

Ordinarily, when a person performs a task, a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor （BDNF） is secreted to the area of the brain that is associated with that activity. The protein helps facilitate communication among brain cells and helps retain memory.

一般來說，當一個人執行一項任務時，一種稱為「腦源性神經滋養因子」（BDNF）的蛋白質就會分泌到與該活動相關的腦部區域中。 這種蛋白質有助促進腦細胞間的通訊，也有助保留記憶。

However in people who have the gene variation that Cramer studied, BDNF secretion is limited.

然而，在柯拉默的研究中，擁有這種基因變異體的人，BDNF的分泌有限。

"These people make more errors from the get-go, and they forget more of what they learned after time away," Cramer said in a statement.

「這些人從起始點犯的錯就較多，一段時間後，他們忘掉更多學到的事」，柯拉默在一項聲明中說。