The anti-Wilson effect: The decrease in heritability of general cognitive ability, as proxied by polygenic expressivity, with advanced age
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This manifests as both a decrease in the additive genetic variance (starting in midlife) and an increase in the nonshared environmental variance components (the anti-Wilson Effect).
“This manifests as both a decrease in the additive (starting in midlife) and an increase in the nonshared environmental variance components (termed the anti-Wilson Effect; Sarraf et al., 2023Sarraf et al., , 2025, Fig. 1, p. 2, see also Morris et al., 2025 for similar findings in relation to age-dependent increases in non-shared environmentality amongst younger cohorts).”
From A Meta-Analysis of Spearman’s Hypothesis in the United States (2026) · cites this paper as Sarraf et al., 2023
The age-related attenuation of Spearman's Hypothesis is compatible with anti-Wilson-effect accounts of late-life cognition, in which the genetic structuring of g becomes increasingly disrupted by cumulative environmental insults.
“This is compatible with anti-Wilson-effect accounts of late-life cognition, in which the genetic structuring of g becomes increasingly disrupted by cumulative environmental insults (Sarraf et al., 2023(Sarraf et al., , 2025)).”
From A Meta-Analysis of Spearman’s Hypothesis in the United States (2026) · cites this paper as Sarraf et al., 2023
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The heritability of ability tilts
Coyle, T. R., Menie, M. A. W. O., Peñaherrera‐Aguirre, M., Madison, G., & Sarraf, M. A. (2023) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2023.112187 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Self-citationGene expressivity on educational attainment increases with age, and then slows
Sarraf, M. A., Woodley of Menie, M. A., Peñaherrera-Aguirre, M., & Ujma, P. P. (2025) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2024.112850 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Self-citationA Meta-Analysis of Spearman’s Hypothesis in the United States
Woodley of Menie, M., Peñaherrera-Aguirre, M., & Sarraf, M. (2026) · Intelligence & Cognitive Abilities · doi:10.65550/001c.171909
Self-citation
- Authors
- Sarraf, M. A., Woodley of Menie, M. A., & Peñaherrera-Aguirre, M.
- Venue
- Personality and Individual Differences
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2023-02
- Volume
- 202
- Pages
- 111969
- ISSN
- 0191-8869 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4308496876
- Cited by
- 3
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 0.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Personality and Individual Differences (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
- Keywords
- Wilson effect, age-related cognitive decline, birth year, somatic mutations, Health and Retirement Study
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