Wisconsin Twin Project Overview: Temperament and Affective Neuroscience

Schmidt, Nicole L.; Lemery‐Chalfant, Kathryn; Goldsmith, H. Hill

doi:10.1017/thg.2019.108

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 49 publications

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“…In particular, research on adolescent twins showed that genetic influences account for 47% of individual variability in self-reported sensory sensitivity (Assary et al, 2021), in line with studies reporting between 38% and 47% heritability for temperament features (including sensory sensitivity; (Oniszczenko et al, 2003)). Furthermore, sensory processing abilities appear to be stable across the lifespan (Hulle et al, 2015;Lemery-Chalfant et al, 2013;Schmidt et al, 2019), and longitudinal twin studies from adolescence to adulthood show genetic factors contribute to this stability (Kandler et al, 2013). Yet, little is known about the role of genes and environments for differences in sensory processing early in life.…”

Section: Despite a Paucity Of Behavioural Genetics Work Investigating...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensory processing in human infants is fragmented and associated with multiple independent etiological influences

Bussu¹,

Portugal²,

Falck‐Ytter³

2023

Preprint

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Infants vary significantly in the way they process and respond to sensory stimuli, and altered sensory processing has been reported among infants later diagnosed with autism. Previous work with adolescents and adults suggests that variability in sensory processing may have a strong genetic basis. Yet, little is known about the etiological factors influencing sensory differences in infancy, a period when interactions with caregivers are intense and during which brain circuits supporting social and non-social cognition are sculptured. Here, we used a multivariate, multi-pronged approach to delineate phenotypic and etiological structure of individual variability across different sensory processing domains early in infancy and tested developmental links to later autistic traits. We analysed data from a community sample of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) same-sex twins at 5 months of age (n=285 pairs, n=158 MZ pairs, n=150 male pairs) from the BabyTwins Study in Sweden (BATSS) using exploratory factor analysis, generalized estimating equations on phenotypic associations, and multivariate twin models comparing different structural model solutions to investigate genetic and environmental influences on variance/covariance across different sensory scores measured at 5 months of age by the Infant/Toddler Sensory Profile (ITSP), and autistic traits as measured by total scores from the Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT) at 36 months. Results suggested separability between sensory processing dimensions (i.e., sensation seeking, sensation avoiding, sensory sensitivity, and low registration) at a structural as well as etiological level, showing different contributions from additive genetics and family environment that were unique to each sensory dimension. Higher incidence of behaviours within the latter three sensory dimensions in infancy, as well as more tactile-related behaviors, were significantly associated with higher levels of autistic traits assessed at three years. The fractionable etiological structure underlying sensory processing early in life revealed by this study implies that sensory oriented interventions (e.g., for autism) may benefit from narrowly targeting each sensory dimension to be maximally effective. The findings can also explain seemingly contra-intuitive findings such as the same child being described at times as an active seeker or avoider in relation to sensory stimulation.

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Section: Despite a Paucity Of Behavioural Genetics Work Investigating...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensory processing in human infants is fragmented and associated with multiple independent etiological influences

Bussu¹,

Portugal²,

Falck‐Ytter³

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Elucidating the Links Between Mother and Father Alcohol Use Disorder and Adolescent Externalizing Psychopathology: A Test of Transmission Specificity Within Competing Factor Structures and Genetic and Environmental Liabilities

2021

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Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Positive Affect: Insights from Adolescent Twins

et al. 2021

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Disturbances in positive affect and reductions in social reward/interpersonal pleasure are common across a range of clinical disorders and are often related. We examined the relationship between the Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale (ACIPS-A), and other measures of positive affect in adolescents in a genetically informative research design. The sample consisted of 177 MZ and 136 same-sex DZ twins drawn from a study of adolescent twins (M = 16.4 ± .97 years) who were part of the Wisconsin Twin Project. The self-report questionnaires included the Behavioral Activation Scale (BAS), Psychological Well-Being Scale, revised Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire (EATQR), and the adolescent version of the ACIPS (ACIPS-A). Structural equation modeling estimated the relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors to the phenotypic variance in each of the measures. Follow-up bivariate analyses parsed the genetic and environmental contributions to the phenotypic covariances between the ACIPS-A and each of the other measures of positive affect. We found evidence of moderate heritability for the ACIPS-A scale scores. Overall, models specifying additive genetic and unique environmental effects (AE models) were the most parsimonious models for each of the measures. Several of the measures showed moderate positive phenotypic intercorrelations, and all but one of these intercorrelations showed significant partial genetic underpinnings. Moreover, the bivariate biometric analyses indicated that the ACIPS-A also captures unique heritable variation. Thus, the ACIPS-A captures unique heritable contributions to social/interpersonal pleasure, as well as shared genetic variance with other measures of positive affectivity.

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Wisconsin Twin Project Overview: Temperament and Affective Neuroscience

Cited by 5 publications

References 49 publications

Sensory processing in human infants is fragmented and associated with multiple independent etiological influences

Sensory processing in human infants is fragmented and associated with multiple independent etiological influences

Elucidating the Links Between Mother and Father Alcohol Use Disorder and Adolescent Externalizing Psychopathology: A Test of Transmission Specificity Within Competing Factor Structures and Genetic and Environmental Liabilities

Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Positive Affect: Insights from Adolescent Twins

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