Explaining the increasing heritability of cognitive ability across development: a meta-analysis of longitudinal twin and adoption studies.
Psychol Sci
; 24(9): 1704-13, 2013 Sep.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-23818655
ABSTRACT
Genes account for increasing proportions of variation in cognitive ability across development, but the mechanisms underlying these increases remain unclear. We conducted a meta-analysis of longitudinal behavioral genetic studies spanning infancy to adolescence. We identified relevant data from 16 articles with 11 unique samples containing a total of 11,500 twin and sibling pairs who were all reared together and measured at least twice between the ages of 6 months and 18 years. Longitudinal behavioral genetic models were used to estimate the extent to which early genetic influences on cognition were amplified over time and the extent to which innovative genetic influences arose with time. Results indicated that in early childhood, innovative genetic influences predominate but that innovation quickly diminishes, and amplified influences account for increasing heritability following age 8 years.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Twins
/
Adoption
/
Child Behavior
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Child Development
/
Adolescent Behavior
/
Cognition
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Systematic_reviews
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Child
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Child, preschool
/
Female
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Humans
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Infant
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
Psychol Sci
Journal subject:
PSICOLOGIA
Year:
2013
Type:
Article