Genetic contributions to stability and change in intelligence from childhood to old age

Deary, Ian J.; Yang, Jian; Davies, Gail; Harris, Sarah E.; Tenesa, Albert; Liewald, David C.; Luciano, Michelle; Lopez, Lorna M.; Gow, Alan J.; Corley, Janie; Redmond, Paul; Fox, Helen; Rowe, Suzanne; Haggarty, Paul; McNeill, Geraldine; Goddard, Michael E.; Porteous, David J.; Whalley, Lawrence J.; Starr, John M.; Visscher, Peter M.

doi:10.1038/nature10781

Cited by 249 publications

(210 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…13 New analytical tools have also recently been developed that rely on direct measures of genetic relatedness, and thus do not rely on the EEA, to estimate heritability [63][64][65]. 14 For a more detailed discussion of the concept of heritability, see Hatemi et al [26]. 15 Center for Responsive Politics, https://www.opensecrets.org/.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a field, behaviour genetics represents an impressive collection of findings on the influence of genetic variation on a large range of behaviours, including: altruism [9], entrepreneurism [10], financial risk taking [9,11], impulsivity [12], intelligence [13,14], leadership [15][16][17], non-rational decision-making [18], smoking addiction [19], socioeconomic status [20] and trust [21]. Indeed, so widespread are findings of heritable behaviour that one scholar has coined the 'first law' of behaviour genetics: 'All human behavioural traits are heritable' [22].…”

Section: Theoretical and Empirical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

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Genes, psychological traits and civic engagement

Dawes

Settle

Loewen

et al. 2015

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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One contribution of 13 to a theme issue 'Solving the puzzle of collective action through inter-individual differences: evidence from primates and humans'. Civic engagement is a classic example of a collective action problem: while civic participation improves life in the community as a whole, it is individually costly and thus there is an incentive to free ride on the actions of others. Yet, we observe significant inter-individual variation in the degree to which people are in fact civically engaged. Early accounts reconciling the theoretical prediction with empirical reality focused either on variation in individuals' material resources or their attitudes, but recent work has turned to genetic differences between individuals. We show an underlying genetic contribution to an index of civic engagement (0.41), as well as for the individual acts of engagement of volunteering for community or public service activities (0.33), regularly contributing to charitable causes (0.28) and voting in elections (0.27). There are closer genetic relationships between donating and the other two activities; volunteering and voting are not genetically correlated. Further, we show that most of the correlation between civic engagement and both positive emotionality and verbal IQ can be attributed to genes that affect both traits. These results enrich our understanding of the way in which genetic variation may influence the wide range of collective action problems that individuals face in modern community life.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical and Empirical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Genes, psychological traits and civic engagement

Dawes

Settle

Loewen

et al. 2015

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…First, variation in genetic architecture has been associated with the intelligence quotient (IQ) distribution itself. Although IQ overall is highly heritable (21)(22)(23)(24), there is evidence that severe intellectual disabilities, which exist at the low tail of the Significance Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research is complicated by heterogeneity. There are several types of genetic risk factors for ASDs, and that diversity may be reflected in case presentation.…”

Section: Identifying Variables That Index Differences In Genetic Archmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autism spectrum disorder severity reflects the average contribution of de novo and familial influences

Robinson

Samocha

Kosmicki

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

136

118

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Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a highly heterogeneous group of conditions-phenotypically and genetically-although the link between phenotypic variation and differences in genetic architecture is unclear. This study aimed to determine whether differences in cognitive impairment and symptom severity reflect variation in the degree to which ASD cases reflect de novo or familial influences. Using data from more than 2,000 simplex cases of ASD, we examined the relationship between intelligence quotient (IQ), behavior and language assessments, and rate of de novo loss of function (LOF) mutations and family history of broadly defined psychiatric disease (depressive disorders, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia; history of psychiatric hospitalization). Proband IQ was negatively associated with de novo LOF rate (P = 0.03) and positively associated with family history of psychiatric disease (P = 0.003). Female cases had a higher frequency of sporadic genetic events across the severity distribution (P = 0.01). High rates of LOF mutation and low frequencies of family history of psychiatric illness were seen in individuals who were unable to complete a traditional IQ test, a group with the greatest degree of language and behavioral impairment. These analyses provide strong evidence that familial risk for neuropsychiatric disease becomes more relevant to ASD etiology as cases become higher functioning. The findings of this study reinforce that there are many routes to the diagnostic category of autism and could lead to genetic studies with more specific insights into individual cases.neuropsychiatric genetics | epidemiology | heterogeneity | phenotype

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“…Paradoxically, even though GCA is highly vulnerable to the influence of aging, there is a remarkable stability in individuals' GCA relative to their same-age peers (10,11). It has even been shown that childhood GCA can account for GCA-cortical thickness associations in old age (12).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurodevelopmental origins of lifespan changes in brain and cognition

Walhovd

Krogsrud

Amlien

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

194

182

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Neurodevelopmental origins of functional variation in older age are increasingly being acknowledged, but identification of how early factors impact human brain and cognition throughout life has remained challenging. Much focus has been on age-specific mechanisms affecting neural foundations of cognition and their change. In contrast to this approach, we tested whether cerebral correlates of general cognitive ability (GCA) in development could be extended to the rest of the lifespan, and whether early factors traceable to prenatal stages, such as birth weight and parental education, may exert continuous influences. We measured the area of the cerebral cortex in a longitudinal sample of 974 individuals aged 4-88 y (1,633 observations). An extensive cortical region was identified wherein area related positively to GCA in development. By tracking area of the cortical region identified in the child sample throughout the lifespan, we showed that the cortical change trajectories of higher and lower GCA groups were parallel through life, suggesting continued influences of early life factors. Birth weight and parental education obtained from the Norwegian Mother-Child Cohort study were identified as such early factors of possible lifelong influence. Support for a genetic component was obtained in a separate twin sample (Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging), but birth weight in the child sample had an effect on cortical area also when controlling for possible genetic differences in terms of parental height. Our results provide novel evidence for stability in brain-cognition relationships throughout life, and indicate that early life factors impact brain and cognition for the entire life course. development | aging | cortical change I t is well-established that both brain and cognition change with age, and that although there are early gains, older age brings with it decrements in aspects of both (1, 2). Much focus has been on age-specific mechanisms of neural foundations of cognition and their change (3, 4). In contrast, neurodevelopmental origins of functional variation in older age are now increasingly being acknowledged (5-8), but identification of how early factors may impact human brain and cognition throughout the lifespan has remained challenging.General cognitive ability (GCA) is essential to human beings, relates to a multitude of health and social outcomes (9), and necessarily originates in characteristics of the central nervous system at all ages. Paradoxically, even though GCA is highly vulnerable to the influence of aging, there is a remarkable stability in individuals' GCA relative to their same-age peers (10, 11). It has even been shown that childhood GCA can account for GCA-cortical thickness associations in old age (12). Cortical thickness is known to decrease with age monotonously from relatively early childhood through the entire lifespan (6,13,14). This thinning, albeit continuous, signifies different neurobiological events at different stages of life (15, 16), and does not have a stable functional correla...

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Genetic contributions to stability and change in intelligence from childhood to old age

Cited by 249 publications

References 27 publications

Genes, psychological traits and civic engagement

Genes, psychological traits and civic engagement

Autism spectrum disorder severity reflects the average contribution of de novo and familial influences

Neurodevelopmental origins of lifespan changes in brain and cognition

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