The Heritability of Cognitive Aging: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Twin Studies

Abstract Heritability of cognitive ability changes across late adulthood, although whether genetic variance increases or decreases in importance is not understood well. We performed a systematic review of the heritability of cognitive ability derived from longitudinal twin studies of middle-aged and older adult twins. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, articles were identified in APA PsycINFO and Clarivate Web of Science electronic databases. Identified articles were screened by title and abstract; remaining full-text articles were then fully evaluated. Reference sections served as an additional method for identification of relevant articles. In total, 3,106 articles were identified and screened, 28 of which were included and were based on data from 10 longitudinal twin studies published from 1994-2021. There are large genetic influences on an initial level of cognitive performance across domains whereas there are small to moderate genetic influences on change in performance with age. Evidence was less definitive about whether the same or different genetic factors contribute to both level and change. Non-shared environmental influences appeared to drive individual changes in cognitive performance. Heritability tended to either be stable or decline after 65 years, possibly because of the increasing importance of non-shared environmental influences on cognitive ability. Recent studies report increases in heritability across specific subtests and domains. Shared environmental variance accounted for little variance in cognitive ability. Emerging research questions and future directions for understanding genetic and environment influences in the context of gene-environment interplay are highlighted in this review.

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The Effects of Mind-Body Exercise on Cognitive Performance in Elderly: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph15122791 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (12) ◽

pp. 2791 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Yanjie Zhang ◽

Chunxiao Li ◽

Liye Zou ◽

Xiaolei Liu ◽

Wook Song

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Cognitive Performance ◽

Cognitive Aging ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Study Quality ◽

Random Effects Models ◽

Effective Strategies ◽

Control Intervention ◽

Global Cognition ◽

Evidence Database

Background: As the situation of cognitive aging is getting worse, preventing or treating cognitive decline through effective strategies is highly important. This systematic review aims to investigate whether mind-body exercise is an effective approach for treating cognition decline. Methods: Searches for the potential studies were performed on the eight electronic databases (MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, PsycArtilces, CNKI, and Wanfang). Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the effect of mind-body exercise on cognitive performance in older adults were included. Data were extracted and effect sizes were pooled with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) using random-effects models. The Physiotherapy Evidence Database Scale was employed to examine the study quality. Results: Nineteen RCTs including 2539 elders (67.3% female) with fair to good study quality were identified. Mind-body exercise, relative to control intervention, showed significant benefits on cognitive performance, global cognition (Hedges’g = 0.23), executive functions (Hedges’g = 0.25 to 0.65), learning and memory (Hedges’g = 0.37 to 0.49), and language (Hedges’g = 0.35). In addition, no significant adverse events were reported. Conclusion: Mind-body exercise may be a safe and effective intervention for enhancing cognitive function among people aged 60 years or older. Further research evidence is still needed to make a more conclusive statement.

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WHY DO PEOPLE DIFFER IN THEIR ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION? A NUCLEAR TWIN FAMILY STUDY

Primenjena psihologija ◽

10.19090/pp.2018.4.433-450 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 433-450 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lea Klassen ◽

Eike F. Eifler ◽

Anke Hufer ◽

Rainer Riemann

Keyword(s):

Achievement Motivation ◽

School Environment ◽

Environmental Influences ◽

Twin Studies ◽

Genetic Influences ◽

Parental Home ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

The Impact ◽

Home And School

Although many previous studies have emphasized the role of environmental factors, such as parental home and school environment, on achievement motivation, classical twin studies suggest that both additive genetic influences and non-shared environmental influences explain interindividual differences in achievement motivation. By applying a Nuclear Twin Family Design on the data of the German nationally representative of TwinLife study, we analyzed genetic and environmental influences on achievement motivation in adolescents and young adults. As expected, the results provided evidence for the impact of additive genetic variation, non-additive genetic influences, as well as twin specific shared environmental influences. The largest amount of variance was attributed to non-shared environmental influences, showing the importance of individual experiences in forming differences in achievement motivation. Overall, we suggest a revision of models and theories that explain variation in achievement motivation by differences in familial socialization only.

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Investment Trait, Activity Engagement, and Age: Independent Effects on Cognitive Ability

Journal of Aging Research ◽

10.1155/2012/949837 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 2012 ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Sophie von Stumm

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Ability ◽

Cognitive Performance ◽

Age Differences ◽

Cognitive Aging ◽

Cognitive Activity ◽

Need For Cognition ◽

Later Life ◽

Aging Research ◽

Activity Engagement ◽

Investment Theory

In cognitive aging research, the “engagement hypothesis” suggests that the participation in cognitively demanding activities helps maintain better cognitive performance in later life. In differential psychology, the “investment” theory proclaims that age differences in cognition are influenced by personality traits that determine when, where, and how people invest their ability. Although both models follow similar theoretical rationales, they differ in their emphasis of behavior (i.e., activity engagement) versus predisposition (i.e., investment trait). The current study compared a cognitive activity engagement scale (i.e., frequency of participation) with an investment trait scale (i.e., need for cognition) and tested their relationship with age differences in cognition in 200 British adults. Age was negatively associated with fluid and positively with crystallized ability but had no relationship with need for cognition and activity engagement. Need for cognition was positively related to activity engagement and cognitive performance; activity engagement, however, was not associated with cognitive ability. Thus, age differences in cognitive ability were largely independent of engagement and investment.

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Genetic and environmental influences on pupil performances

Twin Research ◽

10.1375/twin.2.3.183 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 183-195 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Siv Fischbein ◽

Ruth Guttman ◽

Michael Nathan

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Comparative Study ◽

Cognitive Performance ◽

Performance Measures ◽

Environmental Influences ◽

Genetic Influences ◽

Educational Setting ◽

Time Points ◽

A Current ◽

Israeli Kibbutz

AbstractThe results presented in this paper are part of a current comparative study of genetic and environmental influences in three educational settings: Stockholm, Jerusalem and the Israeli kibbutz. We specifically wanted to investigate whether a more restrictive educational setting would decrease genetic influences. Here we report on comparisons of cognitive performance measures at several time points for twins/controls, boys/girls and within-pair similarity in MZ, DZ and controls. The tests used were the Raven Progressive Matrices, verbal, reading comprehension and arithmetic. The results show no differences between twins and controls, whilst gender differences seem to be smallest in the Stockholm sample and largest in Jerusalem. A pattern of genetic influences on cognitive performance was also clearly visible in Jerusalem. In Stockholm shared environmental influences at home and at school seemed even stronger than in the kibbutz. No consistent differences were found between tests or occasions.

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Associations between diurnal preference, sleep quality and externalizing behaviours: a behavioural genetic analysis

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291710001741 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 41 (5) ◽

pp. 1029-1040 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

N. L. Barclay ◽

T. C. Eley ◽

B. Maughan ◽

R. Rowe ◽

A. M. Gregory

Keyword(s):

Sleep Quality ◽

Environmental Influences ◽

Externalizing Symptoms ◽

Genetic Influences ◽

Poor Sleep ◽

Poor Sleep Quality ◽

Moderate Amount ◽

Diurnal Preference ◽

Adult Twins ◽

Shared Genetic

BackgroundCertain aspects of sleep co-occur with externalizing behaviours in youth, yet little is known about these associations in adults. The present study: (1) examines the associations between diurnal preference (morningness versus eveningness), sleep quality and externalizing behaviours; (2) explores the extent to which genetic and environmental influences are shared between or are unique to these phenotypes; (3) examines the extent to which genetic and environmental influences account for these associations.MethodQuestionnaires assessing diurnal preference, sleep quality and externalizing behaviours were completed by 1556 young adult twins and siblings.ResultsA preference for eveningness and poor sleep quality were associated with greater externalizing symptoms [r=0.28 (95% CI 0.23–0.33) and 0.34 (95% CI 0.28–0.39), respectively]. A total of 18% of the genetic influences on externalizing behaviours were shared with diurnal preference and sleep quality and an additional 14% were shared with sleep quality alone. Non-shared environmental influences common to the phenotypes were small (2%). The association between diurnal preference and externalizing behaviours was mostly explained by genetic influences [additive genetic influence (A)=80% (95% CI 0.56–1.01)], as was the association between sleep quality and externalizing behaviours [A=81% (95% CI 0.62–0.99)]. Non-shared environmental (E) influences accounted for the remaining variance for both associations [E=20% (95% CI −0.01 to 0.44) and 19% (95% CI 0.01–0.38), respectively].ConclusionsA preference for eveningness and poor sleep quality are moderately associated with externalizing behaviours in young adults. There is a moderate amount of shared genetic influences between the phenotypes and genetic influences account for a large proportion of the association between sleep and externalizing behaviours. Further research could focus on identifying specific genetic polymorphisms common to both sleep and externalizing behaviours.

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Genetic and Environmental Influences on Expression of Recurrent Headache as a Function of the Reporting Age in Twins

Twin Research ◽

10.1375/twin.5.4.277 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 277-286 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Dan A. Svensson ◽

Bo Larsson ◽

Elisabet Waldenlind ◽

Nancy L. Pedersen

Keyword(s):

Environmental Influences ◽

Age Groups ◽

Young Men ◽

Genetic Effects ◽

Genetic Influences ◽

Age Group ◽

Environmental Variance ◽

Recurrent Headache ◽

Old Men ◽

Additive Genetic Effects

AbstractTo explore age-related mechanisms in the expression of recurrent headache, we evaluated whether genetic and environmental influences are a function of the reporting age using questionnaire information that was gathered in 1973 for 15- to 47-year-old Swedish twins (n =12,606 twin pairs). Liability to mixed headache (mild migraine and tension-type headache) was explained by non-additive genetic influences (49%) in men aged from 15 to 30 years and additive genetic plus shared environmental influences (28%) in men aged from 31 to 47 years. In women, the explained proportion of variance, which was mainly due to additive genetic effects, ranged from 61% in adolescent twins to 12% in twins aged from 41 to 47 years, whereas individual specific environmental variance was significantly lower in twins aged from 15 to 20 years than in twins aged from 21 to 30 years. Liability to migrainous headache (more severe migraine) was explained by non-addi-tive genetic influences in men, 32% in young men and 45% in old men, while total phenotypic variance was significantly lower in young men than in old men. In women, the explained proportion of variance ranged from 91% in the youngest age group to 37% in the oldest age group, with major contributions from non-additive effects in young and old women (15–20 years and 41–47 years, respectively) and additive genetic effects in intermediate age groups (21–40 years). While total variance showed a positive age trend, genetic variance tended to be stable across age groups, whereas individual specific environmental variance was significantly lower in adolescent women as compared to older women.

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Increasing Phenotypic and Genetic variations in Hyperactivity/Inattention Problems from Age 3 to 13 Years: A Cross-Sectional Twin Study

Twin Research and Human Genetics ◽

10.1017/thg.2014.61 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 17 (6) ◽

pp. 545-552 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Yoon-Mi Hur

Keyword(s):

Meta Analysis ◽

Model Fitting ◽

Twin Studies ◽

Total Sample ◽

Genetic Influences ◽

Adhd Symptoms ◽

Environmental Variance ◽

Twin Design ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Strengths And Difficulties

A twin design was used to examine the developmental nature of genetic, environmental, and phenotypic variations in hyperactivity and inattention problems (HIP). Mothers of 662 complete pairs of twins (273 monozygotic [MZ] pairs and 389 dizygotic [DZ] pairs) aged from 3 to 13 years (mean [SD] age = 8.3 [2.9] years) responded to the items of the HIP scale of the Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire via a telephone interview. Maximum likelihood MZ and DZ twin correlations in the total sample were 0.47 (95% CI: 0.37–0.55) and −0.01 (95% CI: −0.11–0.09). A standard univariate model incorporating age as a modifier was applied to the raw data. Results of model-fitting analyses showed that the phenotypic variation of HIP monotonically increased from age 3 to age 12 and that this increase was completely due to an increase in genetic variance, suggesting that it is genes that expand individual difference in ADHD symptoms with age during childhood. Child-specific environmental variance was constant during this age period. In terms of relative influences, total genetic factors increased from 33% (95% CI: 27–44%) at age 3 to 51% (95% CI: 28–71%) at age 13 and this increase was accompanied by a decrease in relative influences of child-specific environmental factors from 67% (95% CI: 56–73%) at age 3 to 49% (95% CI: 29–72%) at age 13. These estimates of genetic influences were somewhat lower than those found in most twin studies of ADHD symptoms. However, the increasing trend of genetic influences with age during childhood was consistent with the results of a recent meta-analysis of ADHD symptoms.

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Associations Between Subjective Tinnitus and Cognitive Performance: Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses

Trends in Hearing ◽

10.1177/2331216520918416 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 24 ◽

pp. 233121652091841

Author(s):

Nathan A. Clarke ◽

Helen Henshaw ◽

Michael A. Akeroyd ◽

Bethany Adams ◽

Derek J. Hoare

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Executive Function ◽

Cognitive Performance ◽

Performance Studies ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Cognitive Domains ◽

Cognitive Framework ◽

Review Protocol ◽

Meta Analyses

Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the absence of a corresponding external sound source, and bothersome tinnitus has been linked to poorer cognitive performance. This review comprehensively quantifies the association between tinnitus and different domains of cognitive performance. The review protocol was preregistered and published in a peer-reviewed journal. The review and analyses were reported according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis guidelines. Peer-reviewed literature was searched using electronic databases to find studies featuring participants with tinnitus who had undertaken measures of cognitive performance. Studies were assessed for quality and categorized according to an established cognitive framework. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed on various cognitive domains with potential moderator variables assessed where possible. Thirty-eight records were included in the analysis from a total of 1,863 participants. Analyses showed that tinnitus is associated with poorer executive function, processing speed, general short-term memory, and general learning and retrieval. Narrow cognitive domains of Inhibition and Shifting (within executive function) and learning and retrieval (within general learning and retrieval) were also associated with tinnitus.

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Interaction Between Experience Seeking and Genetic and Environmental Influences on General Cognitive Ability

Twin Research and Human Genetics ◽

10.1375/twin.15.1.87 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 87-96 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Anna A. E. Vinkhuyzen ◽

Sophie van der Sluis ◽

Danielle Posthuma

Keyword(s):

Environmental Factors ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Environmental Influences ◽

Future Research ◽

Phenotypic Correlation ◽

General Cognitive Ability ◽

Seeking Behavior ◽

Environmental Causes ◽

Genetic And Environmental Factors ◽

Adult Twins

Although it is well established that experience seeking behavior (ES) is positively related to cognitive functioning, the mechanisms underlying this association are not clearly understood. In a large sample of adult twins and siblings (N = 864, age range 23–75), we studied the causes of covariation between ES and general cognitive ability and we studied whether ES moderates the genetic and environmental causes of variation in general cognitive ability. Results demonstrate a phenotypic correlation of .17 (p <.001) between general cognitive ability and ES, with a common genetic and common environmental background. Moreover, the extent to which genetic and environmental factors are shared between general cognitive ability and ES is increased in individuals with either lower or higher levels of ES. In addition, the extent to which genetic and environmental factors influence individual differences in general cognitive ability in adults partly depended on ES. Standardized influences of additive genetic factors on general cognitive ability ranged from 13% to 99%, with lower estimates in higher levels of ES, while standardized estimates of environmental factors ranged from almost 1% to 87%, with higher estimates in higher levels of ES. Hence, ES and cognitive ability are not only associated through common genetic and environmental factors, but also via moderating effects of genetic and environmental influences on cognitive ability by ES. These findings have implications for future studies on the association between ES and general cognitive ability, and for future research on the genetics of cognitive ability.

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A Twin Study of Lifetime Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) in Older Adults: Genetic and Environmental Influences Shared by Neuroticism and GAD

Twin Research and Human Genetics ◽

10.1375/twin.9.1.30 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 30-37 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Margaret-Anne Mackintosh ◽

Margaret Gatz ◽

Julie Loebach Wetherell ◽

Nancy L. Pedersen

Keyword(s):

Anxiety Disorder ◽

Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽

Environmental Influences ◽

Genetic Influences ◽

Generalized Anxiety ◽

Twin Registry ◽

The Individual ◽

Adult Twins ◽

Telephone Screening ◽

Swedish Twin Registry

AbstractThe nature of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and worry across the lifespan remains incompletely understood. We investigated genetic and environmental influences on GAD and the proportion of genetic and environmental variation in GAD that is shared with neuroticism in older adult twins. Participants included 1618 monozygotic and 2291 same-sexed dizygotic twin pairs from the Swedish Twin Registry aged 55 to 74. Participants provided personality information in 1973 and also participated in a telephone screening between 1998 and 2002 that included an assessment for lifetime GAD. Univariate biometric models indicated that both GAD and neuroticism were moderately heritable (.27 and .47, respectively), while the balance of variation reflected environmental factors unique to the individual. Bivariate analyses indicated that approximately one third of the genetic influences on GAD were in common with genetic influences on neuroticism, while individual specific environmental influences were virtually unshared between GAD and neuroticism. Analyses of sex effects suggested that men and women differed in the frequency of lifetime GAD and level of neuroticism; however, no sex differences for genetic and environmental influences for either trait were identified.

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