Human behavioural genetics of cognitive abilities and disabilities

BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
Robert Plomin, I W Craig

Abstract

Although neither the genome nor the environment can be manipulated in research on human behaviour, some of the new tools of molecular genetics can be brought to bear on human behavioural disorders (e.g. cognitive disabilities) and quantitative traits (e.g. cognitive abilities). The inability to manipulate the human genome experimentally has had the positive effect of focusing attention on naturally occurring genetic variation responsible for behavioural differences among individuals in all their complex multifactorial splendour. Genes in such complex multiple-gene systems are called quantitative trait loci (QTLs), which merge the two worlds of genetic research, quantitative genetics and molecular genetics. Although most genetic research on complex human behaviour has focused on severe mental disorders, cognitive abilities and disabilities may be even more immediately relevant to neuroscience. For example, verbal ability and spatial ability are two of the most heritable cognitive abilities, and reading disability is the first behavioural disability for which replicated QTL linkage has been found. The purpose of this essay is to provide an overview of the genetics of cognitive abilities and disabilities as an example of the impen...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jun 25, 2013·Neurobiology of Learning and Memory·Sara J Aton
Mar 21, 2012·The Journal of Genetic Psychology·Aaron S HerveyC Thomas Gualtieri
Mar 10, 2004·Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews·P M Greenwood, Raja Parasuraman
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Mar 16, 2013·Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences·Charlotte NymbergGunter Schumann
Nov 12, 2013·Ageing Research Reviews·Seyed Amir Hossein BatouliPerminder S Sachdev
Jun 1, 2016·NeuroImage·Toshihiko ArakiUNKNOWN Osaka Twin Research Group
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Dec 7, 2013·The Journal of Genetic Psychology·Ellen K Nyhus, Paul Webley
Jan 12, 2005·The American Psychologist·Robert J SternbergKenneth K Kidd

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