DNA Evidence for Strong Genome-Wide Pleiotropy of Cognitive and Learning Abilities

Very different neurocognitive processes appear to be involved in cognitive abilities such as verbal and non-verbal ability as compared to learning abilities taught in schools such as reading and mathematics. However, twin studies that compare similarity for monozygotic and dizygotic twins suggest th...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavior genetics 2013-07, Vol.43 (4), p.267-273
Main Authors: Trzaskowski, Maciej, Davis, Oliver S. P., DeFries, John C., Yang, Jian, Visscher, Peter M., Plomin, Robert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Child
Clinical Psychology
Cognition & reasoning
Cognition - physiology
Cognitive ability
DNA - analysis
England
Female
Genetic Markers
Genetic Pleiotropy
Genetic testing
Genome, Human
Genome-Wide Association Study
Genomes
Health Psychology
Humans
Hypotheses
Intelligence
Intelligence Tests
Language
Learning - physiology
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Mathematics
Multivariate Analysis
Neuropsychological Tests
Original Research
Psychiatry
Psychology
Public Health
Quantitative genetics
Reading
Twin studies
Twins
Wales
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Very different neurocognitive processes appear to be involved in cognitive abilities such as verbal and non-verbal ability as compared to learning abilities taught in schools such as reading and mathematics. However, twin studies that compare similarity for monozygotic and dizygotic twins suggest that the same genes are largely responsible for genetic influence on these diverse aspects of cognitive function. It is now possible to test this evidence for strong pleiotropy using DNA alone from samples of unrelated individuals. Here we used this new method with 1.7 million DNA markers for a sample of 2,500 unrelated children at age 12 to investigate for the first time the extent of pleiotropy between general cognitive ability (aka intelligence) and learning abilities (reading, mathematics and language skills). We also compared these DNA results to results from twin analyses using the same sample and measures. The DNA-based method revealed strong genome-wide pleiotropy: Genetic correlations were greater than 0.70 between general cognitive ability and language, reading, and mathematics, results that were highly similar to twin study estimates of genetic correlations. These results indicate that genes related to diverse neurocognitive processes have general rather than specific effects.
ISSN:0001-8244
1573-3297
DOI:10.1007/s10519-013-9594-x