Genetics and intelligence differences: five special findings.
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| Title: | Genetics and intelligence differences: five special findings. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Plomin, R, Deary, I J |
| Source: | Molecular Psychiatry. Jan2015, Vol. 20 Issue 1, p98-108. 11p. |
| Subjects: | Intellect & genetics, Cognitive neuroscience, Personality & genetics, Personality & intelligence, Human genome, Psychology |
| Abstract: | Intelligence is a core construct in differential psychology and behavioural genetics, and should be so in cognitive neuroscience. It is one of the best predictors of important life outcomes such as education, occupation, mental and physical health and illness, and mortality. Intelligence is one of the most heritable behavioural traits. Here, we highlight five genetic findings that are special to intelligence differences and that have important implications for its genetic architecture and for gene-hunting expeditions. (i) The heritability of intelligence increases from about 20% in infancy to perhaps 80% in later adulthood. (ii) Intelligence captures genetic effects on diverse cognitive and learning abilities, which correlate phenotypically about 0.30 on average but correlate genetically about 0.60 or higher. (iii) Assortative mating is greater for intelligence (spouse correlations ~0.40) than for other behavioural traits such as personality and psychopathology (~0.10) or physical traits such as height and weight (~0.20). Assortative mating pumps additive genetic variance into the population every generation, contributing to the high narrow heritability (additive genetic variance) of intelligence. (iv) Unlike psychiatric disorders, intelligence is normally distributed with a positive end of exceptional performance that is a model for 'positive genetics'. (v) Intelligence is associated with education and social class and broadens the causal perspectives on how these three inter-correlated variables contribute to social mobility, and health, illness and mortality differences. These five findings arose primarily from twin studies. They are being confirmed by the first new quantitative genetic technique in a century-Genome-wide Complex Trait Analysis (GCTA)-which estimates genetic influence using genome-wide genotypes in large samples of unrelated individuals. Comparing GCTA results to the results of twin studies reveals important insights into the genetic architecture of intelligence that are relevant to attempts to narrow the 'missing heritability' gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Molecular Psychiatry is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
| FullText | Links: – Type: pdflink Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: pbh DbLabel: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection An: 100775132 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Genetics and intelligence differences: five special findings. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Plomin%2C+R%22">Plomin, R</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Deary%2C+I+J%22">Deary, I J</searchLink> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Molecular+Psychiatry%22">Molecular Psychiatry</searchLink>. Jan2015, Vol. 20 Issue 1, p98-108. 11p. – Name: Subject Label: Subjects Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Intellect+%26+genetics%22">Intellect & genetics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cognitive+neuroscience%22">Cognitive neuroscience</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Personality+%26+genetics%22">Personality & genetics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Personality+%26+intelligence%22">Personality & intelligence</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Human+genome%22">Human genome</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Psychology%22">Psychology</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Intelligence is a core construct in differential psychology and behavioural genetics, and should be so in cognitive neuroscience. It is one of the best predictors of important life outcomes such as education, occupation, mental and physical health and illness, and mortality. Intelligence is one of the most heritable behavioural traits. Here, we highlight five genetic findings that are special to intelligence differences and that have important implications for its genetic architecture and for gene-hunting expeditions. (i) The heritability of intelligence increases from about 20% in infancy to perhaps 80% in later adulthood. (ii) Intelligence captures genetic effects on diverse cognitive and learning abilities, which correlate phenotypically about 0.30 on average but correlate genetically about 0.60 or higher. (iii) Assortative mating is greater for intelligence (spouse correlations ~0.40) than for other behavioural traits such as personality and psychopathology (~0.10) or physical traits such as height and weight (~0.20). Assortative mating pumps additive genetic variance into the population every generation, contributing to the high narrow heritability (additive genetic variance) of intelligence. (iv) Unlike psychiatric disorders, intelligence is normally distributed with a positive end of exceptional performance that is a model for 'positive genetics'. (v) Intelligence is associated with education and social class and broadens the causal perspectives on how these three inter-correlated variables contribute to social mobility, and health, illness and mortality differences. These five findings arose primarily from twin studies. They are being confirmed by the first new quantitative genetic technique in a century-Genome-wide Complex Trait Analysis (GCTA)-which estimates genetic influence using genome-wide genotypes in large samples of unrelated individuals. Comparing GCTA results to the results of twin studies reveals important insights into the genetic architecture of intelligence that are relevant to attempts to narrow the 'missing heritability' gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Molecular Psychiatry is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1038/mp.2014.105 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 11 StartPage: 98 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Intellect & genetics Type: general – SubjectFull: Cognitive neuroscience Type: general – SubjectFull: Personality & genetics Type: general – SubjectFull: Personality & intelligence Type: general – SubjectFull: Human genome Type: general – SubjectFull: Psychology Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Genetics and intelligence differences: five special findings. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Plomin, R – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Deary, I J IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Text: Jan2015 Type: published Y: 2015 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 13594184 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 20 – Type: issue Value: 1 Titles: – TitleFull: Molecular Psychiatry Type: main |
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