Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009;14(4-5):312-31.
doi: 10.1080/13546800902797106.

Learning abilities and disabilities: generalist genes in early adolescence

Oliver S P Davis  1 , Claire M A Haworth, Robert Plomin
Affiliations

Learning abilities and disabilities: generalist genes in early adolescence

Oliver S P Davis et al. Cogn Neuropsychiatry. 2009.

Abstract

Introduction: The new view of cognitive neuropsychology that considers not just case studies of rare severe disorders but also common disorders, as well as normal variation and quantitative traits, is more amenable to recent advances in molecular genetics, such as genome-wide association studies, and advances in quantitative genetics, such as multivariate genetic analysis. A surprising finding emerging from multivariate quantitative genetic studies across diverse learning abilities is that most genetic influences are shared: they are "generalist", rather than "specialist".

Methods: We exploited widespread access to inexpensive and fast Internet connections in the United Kingdom to assess over 5000 pairs of 12-year-old twins from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) on four distinct batteries: reading, mathematics, general cognitive ability (g) and, for the first time, language.

Results: Genetic correlations remain high among all of the measured abilities, with language as highly correlated genetically with g as reading and mathematics.

Conclusions: Despite developmental upheaval, generalist genes remain important into early adolescence, suggesting optimal strategies for molecular genetic studies seeking to identify the genes of small effect that influence learning abilities and disabilities.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Common pathway model
A = Additive genetic effects; C = Shared (common) environmental effects; E = non-shared environmental effects. Squares represent measured traits; circles represent latent factors. The lower tier of arrows represents factor loadings; the second tier represents genetic and environmental path coefficients; the curved arrows at the top represent correlations between genetic and environmental latent factors.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Cross-trait genetic effects
Estimates of cross-trait additive genetic effects (A) are highlighted.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Cross-trait shared environmental effects
Estimates of cross-trait shared environmental effects (C) are highlighted.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Cross-trait non-shared environmental effects
Estimates of cross-trait non-shared environmental effects (E) are highlighted.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Birnbaum MH. Human research and data collection via the internet. Annual Review of Psychology. 2004;55:803–832. - PubMed
    1. Boomsma D, Busjahn A, Peltonen L. Classical twin studies and beyond. Nature Reviews Genetics. 2002;3:872–882. - PubMed
    1. Caramazza A, Coltheart M. Cognitive Neuropsychology twenty years on. Cognitive Neuropsychology. 2006;23(1):3–12. - PubMed
    1. Davis OSP, Kovas Y, Harlaar N, Busfield P, McMillan A, Frances J, Petrill SA, Dale PS, Plomin R. Generalist genes and the Internet generation: etiology of learning abilities by web testing at age 10. Genes, Brain and Behavior. 2008;7:455–462. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ernst M, Mueller SC. The adolescent brain: Insights from functional neuroimaging research. Developmental Neurobiology. 2008;68(6):729–743. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types