ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo study the associations of Val66Met functional polymorphism in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)with creativity and personality traits in a healthy college student population.MethodThe creativity performance and personality traits of the 830 healthy college students (272 males and 558females) were assessed with Williams Creativity Scale (CAP) and adult Eysenek Personality Questionnaire (EPQ),then study was performed on the association Val66Met in BDNF with creativity and personality traits.ResultsThe results indicated that Val66Met was significantly associated with the curiosity of CAP (F=0.519,P=0.036).The numbers of Val allele showed a positive correlation to the performance of curiosity.Val66Val genotype individuals had the best performance (31.924 ± 4.010 ) while the Met66Met ones showed the worst performante(30.889 ± 3.478).However,the association of Val66Met with the personality traits of EPQ was uot significant in the study (P＞ 0.05).Furthermore,there was no a significant effect of the interaction between the genetic variant and Extraversion/Introversion on the curiosity of CAP (P =0.747 ).ConclusionThe present study suggests that Val66Met in BDNF contributes to creativity,but not to personality traits in the population.