Previous studies have shown inconsistent results regarding the effect of the Val¹⁵⁸Met polymorphism of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene on personality and cognition. Here, nonclinical Caucasian university students of Italian origin were administered the Temperament and Character Inventory–Revised, Tellegen Absorption Scale, Differential Attentional Processes Inventory, and Waterloo-Stanford Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility. We found that the COMT Val¹⁵⁸Met polymorphism was significantly associated with the disorderliness facet of novelty seeking (NS4) and that sex was a moderator of this association. Females with the Met/Met genotype showed higher NS4 scores compared to those with the Val/Met and Val/Val genotypes. No significant genotype effect was found for males. Additionally, we failed to find a significant effect of the COMT gene on attention and hypnotic suggestibility measures. These results provide further evidence for a sex-specific influence on the gene–behaviour associations.

先前的研究表明，关于儿茶酚-O-甲基转移酶 ( COMT ) 基因的 Val ¹⁵⁸ Met 多态性对人格和认知的影响的结果不一致。在这里，意大利血统的非临床高加索大学生接受了气质和性格量表修订版、泰勒根吸收量表、差异注意过程量表和滑铁卢-斯坦福组催眠敏感性量表。我们发现COMT Val ¹⁵⁸Met 多态性与新奇寻求（NS4）的无序方面显着相关，并且性别是这种关联的调节因子。与具有 Val/Met 和 Val/Val 基因型的女性相比，具有 Met/Met 基因型的女性表现出更高的 NS4 分数。男性没有发现显着的基因型效应。此外，我们未能发现COMT基因对注意力和催眠暗示性测量的显着影响。这些结果为基因 - 行为关联的性别特异性影响提供了进一步的证据。