The Heritability of Language: A Review and Metaanalysis of Twin, Adoption, and Linkage Studies

Stromswold, Karin

doi:10.1353/lan.2001.0247

Cited by 279 publications

(228 citation statements)

References 290 publications

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“…We note that some estimates using the Holzinger method are greater than 1.0. This could be due to the interaction of gene-environment effects or to the small sample size (Stromswold, 2001). This approach is also limited because we cannot specify or compare model parameters; these include taking into account differences in variance, or the comparison of ACE to ADE (A additive genetic, D dominant genetic, and E unique environment) or AE models.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The TWIN-E Project in Emotional Wellbeing: Study Protocol and Preliminary Heritability Results Across Four MRI and DTI Measures

et al. 2012

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Despite the significant advancements being made in the neurogenetics for mental health, the identification and validation of potential endophenotype markers of risk and resilience remain to be confirmed. The TWIN-E study (The Twin study in Wellbeing using Integrative Neuroscience of Emotion) aims to validate endophenotype markers of mental health across cognitive, brain, and autonomic measures by testing the heritability, clinical plausibility, and reliability of each of these measures in a large adult twin cohort. The specific gene and environmental mechanisms that moderate prospective links between endophenotypephenotype markers and the final outcome of wellbeing will also be identified. TWIN-E is a national prospective study with three phases: I) baseline testing on a battery of online questionnaires and cognitive tasks, and EEG, MRI, and autonomic testing; II) 12-month follow-up testing on the online assessments; and III) randomized controlled trial of brain training. Minimum target numbers include 1,500 male/female twins (18-65 years) for the online assessments (Phase I and II), 300 twins for the EEG testing component, and 244 twins for the MRI testing component. For Phase III, each twin out of the pair will be randomized to either the treatment or waitlist control group to test the effects of brain training on mental health over a 30-day period, and to confirm the gene-environment and endophenotype contributions to treatment response. Preliminary heritability results are provided for the first 50% of the MRI subgroup (n = 142) for the grey matter volume, thickness, and surface area measures, and white matter diffuse tensor imaging fractional anisotropy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The TWIN-E Project in Emotional Wellbeing: Study Protocol and Preliminary Heritability Results Across Four MRI and DTI Measures

et al. 2012

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“…The genetic effect size is typically referred to as heritability (a 2 or h 2 ), with shared and nonshared environmental effects represented as c 2 and e 2 , respectively. Estimates of genetic effects on individual differences in language development at different ages have varied widely across studies, with such variability attributed to differences in language domain (e.g., Stromswold, 2001), form of measurement (e.g., DeThorne et al, 2008), environmental circumstances (e.g., Rowe, Jacobson, & Van den Oord, 1999), and child age (e.g., Spinath, Price, Dale, & Plomin, 2004). Specific to child age, multivariate analyses with longitudinal data allow us to examine the stability of genetic and environmental effects over time.…”

Section: Longitudinal Twin Studies Of Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

Longitudinal Effects on Early Adolescent Language: A Twin Study

Harlaar

DeThorne

Mahurin-Smith

et al. 2016

J Speech Lang Hear Res

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Purpose We evaluated genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences in language skills during early adolescence, measured by both language sampling and standardized tests, and examined the extent to which these genetic and environmental effects are stable across time. Method We used structural equation modeling on latent factors to estimate additive genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental effects on variance in standardized language skills (i.e., Formal Language) and productive language-sample measures (i.e., Productive Language) in a sample of 527 twins across 3 time points (mean ages 10–12 years). Results Individual differences in the Formal Language factor were influenced primarily by genetic factors at each age, whereas individual differences in the Productive Language factor were primarily due to nonshared environmental influences. For the Formal Language factor, the stability of genetic effects was high across all 3 time points. For the Productive Language factor, nonshared environmental effects showed low but statistically significant stability across adjacent time points. Conclusions The etiology of language outcomes may differ substantially depending on assessment context. In addition, the potential mechanisms for nonshared environmental influences on language development warrant further investigation.

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“…More generally, this same argument applies to any claim of genetic biases causing cultural differences between human populations. Components (i) and (ii), concerning interindividual variability, are generally well-established for language either independently (Bartley et al, 1997;Lenroot et al, 2007;Scamvougeras et al, 2003;Thompson et al, 2001;Wright et al, 2002) or as a conglomerate in studies involving the heritability of language (Bishop, 2003;Bonneau et al, 2004;Felsenfeld, 2002;Fisher et al, 2003;Plomin and Kovas, 2005;Stromswold, 2001). Component (iii) concerns interpopulation variability and asserts that populations with different genetic structures could develop overt linguistic differences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of genetic biases in shaping the correlations between languages and genes

Dediu

2008

Journal of Theoretical Biology

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It has recently been proposed (Dediu, D., Ladd, D.R., 2007. Linguistic tone is related to the population frequency of the adaptive haplogroups of two brain size genes, ASPM and Microcephalin. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104, 10944-10949) that genetically coded linguistic biases can influence the trajectory of language change. However, the nature of such biases and the conditions under which they can become manifest have remained vague. The present paper explores computationally two plausible types of linguistic acquisition biases in a population of agents implementing realistic genetic, linguistic and demographic processes. One type of bias represents an innate asymmetric initial state (Initial Expectation bias)while the other an innate asymmetric facility of acquisition (Rate of Learning bias). It was found that only the second type of bias produces detectable effects on language through cultural transmission across generations and that such effects are produced even by weak biases present at low frequencies in the population. This suggests that learning preference asymmetries, very small at the individual level and not very frequent at the population level, can bias the trajectory of language change through the process of cultural transmission.

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The Heritability of Language: A Review and Metaanalysis of Twin, Adoption, and Linkage Studies

Cited by 279 publications

References 290 publications

The TWIN-E Project in Emotional Wellbeing: Study Protocol and Preliminary Heritability Results Across Four MRI and DTI Measures

The TWIN-E Project in Emotional Wellbeing: Study Protocol and Preliminary Heritability Results Across Four MRI and DTI Measures

Longitudinal Effects on Early Adolescent Language: A Twin Study

The role of genetic biases in shaping the correlations between languages and genes

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