The correlation between reading and mathematics ability at age twelve has a substantial genetic component

作者：Oliver S. P. Davis, Gavin Band, Matti Pirinen, Claire M. A. Haworth, Emma L. Meaburn, Yulia Kovas, Nicole Harlaar, Sophia Docherty, Ken B. Hanscombe, Maciej Trzaskowski, Charles Curtis, Amy Strange, Colin Freeman, Céline Bellenguez, Zhan Su, Richard D. Pearson, Damjan Vukcevic, Cordelia Langford, Panos Deloukas, Sarah Hunt, Emma Gray, Serge Dronov, Simon Potter, Avazeh Tashakkori-Ghanbaria, Sarah Edkins, Suzannah J. Bumpstead, Jenefer M. Blackwell, Elvira Bramon, Matthew A. Brown, Juan P. Casas, Aiden Corvin, Audrey Duncanson, Janusz Jankowski, Hugh S. Markus, Christopher G. Mathew, Colin N. A. Palmer, Anna Rautanen, Stephen Sawcer, Richard C. Trembath, Ananth C. Viswanathan, Nicholas Wood, Inês Barroso, Leena Peltonen, Philip S. Dale, Stephen A. Petrill, Leonard C. Schalkwyk, Ian Craig, Cathryn M. Lewis, Thomas S. Price, Peter Donnelly, Robert Plomin, Chris C. A. Spencer · 发表于：Nature Communications · 年份：2014 · DOI：10.1038/ncomms5204 · 被引用次数：104 · 研究领域：Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills、Genetic Associations and Epidemiology、Reading and Literacy Development

Dissecting how genetic and environmental influences impact on learning is helpful for maximizing numeracy and literacy. Here we show, using twin and genome-wide analysis, that there is a substantial genetic component to children's ability in reading and mathematics, and estimate that around one half of the observed correlation in these traits is due to shared genetic effects (so-called Generalist Genes). Thus, our results highlight the potential role of the learning environment in contributing to differences in a child's cognitive abilities at age twelve.