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Explaining the Increasing Heritability of Cognitive Ability Across Development: A Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Twin and Adoption Studies
Open accessAbstract
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.
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“As heritability rises, the shared environmental component of traits like intelligence tends to become insignificant [30,31].”
From Global Ancestry and Cognitive Ability (2019) · cites this paper as [31]
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“there was significant support for age differences in the a and c parameters, indicating that genetic variance increases and shared environmental variance decreases with age”
From Large Cross-National Differences in Gene × Socioeconomic Status Interaction on Intelligence (2016) · cites this paper as Briley & Tucker-Drob, 2013
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“and increase with age (Briley & Tucker-Drob, 2013)”
From Large Cross-National Differences in Gene × Socioeconomic Status Interaction on Intelligence (2016) · cites this paper as Briley & Tucker-Drob, 2013
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“We also replicated the well-established phenomenon of increasing genetic influences, and decreasing shared environmental influences, on intelligence with childhood age (e.g. Briley & Tucker-Drob, 2013; Haworth et al., 2009) in the current meta-analytic dataset.”
From Large Cross-National Differences in Gene × Socioeconomic Status Interaction on Intelligence (2016) · cites this paper as Briley & Tucker-Drob, 2013
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“1 3 possible that, similar to general cognitive ability (Briley and Tucker-Drob 2013), the impact of shared environments on IC may decline across age such that they only significantly contribute to IC in infancy and early childhood (Fujisawa et al.”
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“One intriguing example of this in primates is an increase in the heritability of human cognitive ability with age (Briley and Tucker-Drob 2013).”
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“While the high heritability of cognitive abilities has been robustly demonstrated (Briley & Tucker-Drob, 2013; Haworth et al., 2010), further research is necessary to replicate and clarify epigenetic effects on cognitive performance (Caramaschi et al., 2022).”
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“The Wilson effect has been replicated in another meta-analysis of 11 unique longitudinal samples (Briley & Tucker-Drob 2013) and specifically for verbal intelligence in a longitudinal study (Van Soelen et al.”
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“…differences lead to a “reciprocal feedback loop between the phenotype and the environment” that amplifies initial differences (Beam & Turkheimer, 2013, p. 7; see also Briley & Tucker-Drob, 2013; Dickens & Flynn, 2001), a phenomenon observed even in genetically identical mice (Freund et al., 2013).”
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“…resilience-associated traits have been found to be heritable, such as optimism (Mosing et al., 2009), self-esteem (Roy et al., 1995), mastery (Kiecolt et al., 2013), altruism (Rushton et al., 1986), cognitive ability (Briley & Tucker-Drob, 2013), and coping behaviour (Kendler et al., 1991).”
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“In the most recent longitudinal meta-analysis of developmental changes in the genetic and environmental influences on intelligence, Briley and Tucker-Drob (2013) reported that non-shared environmental influences increased significantly as the interval between intelligence tests lengthened (see…”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Briley, D. A., & Tucker-Drob, E. M.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- Department of Psychology and Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin
- Corresponding author
- Briley, Daniel A.
- ORCID
- Briley, Daniel A.
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2013-07-01
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1704-1713
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- PMC
- PMC3954471
- OpenAlex
- W2116895257
- Cited by
- 178
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 18.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2021-02-16)
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R24HD042849, R21HD069772, T32HD007081)
- 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
- cognitive ability, heritability, gene-environment interaction
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Adoption, Age Factors, Child, Child Behavior, Child Development, Child, Preschool, Cognition, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Infant, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Twins, Siblings
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