Genetic Epidemiology, Translational Neurogenomics, Psychiatric Genetics and Statistical Genetics Laboratories investigate the pattern of disease in families, particularly identical and non-identical twins, to assess the relative importance of genes and environment in a variety of important health problems.
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PMID
19488046
TITLE
The heritability of general cognitive ability increases linearly from childhood to young adulthood.
ABSTRACT
Although common sense suggests that environmental influences increasingly account for individual differences in behavior as experiences accumulate during the course of life, this hypothesis has not previously been tested, in part because of the large sample sizes needed for an adequately powered analysis. Here we show for general cognitive ability that, to the contrary, genetic influence increases with age. The heritability of general cognitive ability increases significantly and linearly from 41% in childhood (9 years) to 55% in adolescence (12 years) and to 66% in young adulthood (17 years) in a sample of 11 000 pairs of twins from four countries, a larger sample than all previous studies combined. In addition to its far-reaching implications for neuroscience and molecular genetics, this finding suggests new ways of thinking about the interface between nature and nurture during the school years. Why, despite life's 'slings and arrows of outrageous fortune', do genetically driven differences increasingly account for differences in general cognitive ability? We suggest that the answer lies with genotype-environment correlation: as children grow up, they increasingly select, modify and even create their own experiences in part based on their genetic propensities.
DATE PUBLISHED
2010 Nov
HISTORY
PUBSTATUS PUBSTATUSDATE
aheadofprint 2009/06/02
entrez 2009/06/03 09:00
pubmed 2009/06/03 09:00
medline 2011/03/02 06:00
AUTHORS
NAME COLLECTIVENAME LASTNAME FORENAME INITIALS AFFILIATION AFFILIATIONINFO
Haworth CM Haworth C M A CM Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, London, UK.
Wright MJ Wright M J MJ
Luciano M Luciano M M
Martin NG Martin N G NG
de Geus EJ de Geus E J C EJ
van Beijsterveldt CE van Beijsterveldt C E M CE
Bartels M Bartels M M
Posthuma D Posthuma D D
Boomsma DI Boomsma D I DI
Davis OS Davis O S P OS
Kovas Y Kovas Y Y
Corley RP Corley R P RP
Defries JC Defries J C JC
Hewitt JK Hewitt J K JK
Olson RK Olson R K RK
Rhea SA Rhea S-A SA
Wadsworth SJ Wadsworth S J SJ
Iacono WG Iacono W G WG
McGue M McGue M M
Thompson LA Thompson L A LA
Hart SA Hart S A SA
Petrill SA Petrill S A SA
Lubinski D Lubinski D D
Plomin R Plomin R R
INVESTIGATORS
JOURNAL
VOLUME: 15
ISSUE: 11
TITLE: Molecular psychiatry
ISOABBREVIATION: Mol. Psychiatry
YEAR: 2010
MONTH: Nov
DAY:
MEDLINEDATE:
SEASON:
CITEDMEDIUM: Internet
ISSN: 1476-5578
ISSNTYPE: Electronic
MEDLINE JOURNAL
MEDLINETA: Mol Psychiatry
COUNTRY: England
ISSNLINKING: 1359-4184
NLMUNIQUEID: 9607835
PUBLICATION TYPE
PUBLICATIONTYPE TEXT
Journal Article
Multicenter Study
Twin Study
COMMENTS AND CORRECTIONS
REFTYPE REFSOURCE REFPMID NOTE
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GRANTS
GRANTID AGENCY COUNTRY
G0500079 Medical Research Council United Kingdom
G0500079(73692) Medical Research Council United Kingdom
G0802681 Medical Research Council United Kingdom
R01 AA009367 NIAAA NIH HHS United States
R01 DA005147 NIDA NIH HHS United States
R01 DA013240 NIDA NIH HHS United States
R01 HD010333 NICHD NIH HHS United States
R01 HD038075 NICHD NIH HHS United States
R01 HD044454 NICHD NIH HHS United States
R01 HD046167 NICHD NIH HHS United States
R01 MH043899 NIMH NIH HHS United States
GENERAL NOTE
KEYWORDS
MESH HEADINGS
DESCRIPTORNAME QUALIFIERNAME
Adolescent
Adolescent Development physiology
Adult physiology
Aging genetics
Child genetics
Child Development physiology
Child, Preschool physiology
Cognition physiology
Female physiology
Humans physiology
Intelligence Tests physiology
Male physiology
Quantitative Trait, Heritable physiology
Twins, Dizygotic genetics
Twins, Monozygotic genetics
United States genetics
SUPPLEMENTARY MESH
GENE SYMBOLS
CHEMICALS
OTHER ID's
OTHERID SOURCE
NIHMS124896 NLM
PMC2889158 NLM
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