scholarly journals Cognitive ability and education: how behavioural genetic research has advanced our knowledge and understanding of their association

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margherita Malanchini ◽  
Kaili Rimfeld ◽  
Andrea Allegrini ◽  
Stuart James Ritchie ◽  
Robert Plomin
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Genetic Research ◽  
Strong Stability ◽  
Educational Success ◽  
Noncognitive Skills ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Current Review ◽  
Evidence Based Model

Cognitive ability and educational success predict positive outcomes across the lifespan, from higher earnings to better health and longevity. The shared positive outcomes associated with cognitive ability and education are emblematic of the strong interconnections between them. Part of the observed associations between cognitive ability and education, as well as their links with wealth, morbidity and mortality, are rooted in genetic variation. The current review evaluates the contribution of decades of behavioural genetic research to our knowledge and understanding of the biological and environmental basis of the association between cognitive ability and education. The evidence reviewed points to a strong genetic basis in their association, observed from middle childhood to old age, which is amplified by environmental experiences. In addition, the strong stability and heritability of educational success are not driven entirely by cognitive ability. This highlights the contribution of other educationally relevant noncognitive characteristics. Considering both cognitive and noncognitive skills as well as their biological and environmental underpinnings will be fundamental in moving towards a comprehensive, evidence-based model of education.

Race on Both Sides of the Razor

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence D. Keel
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Political Correctness ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Genetic Research ◽  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Behavioral Differences ◽  
Social Activists ◽  
Continued Use ◽  
Biological Differences

The proliferation of studies declaring that there is a genetic basis to health disparities and behavioral differences across the so-called races has encouraged the opponents of social constructionism to assert a victory for scientific progress over political correctness. I am not concerned in this essay with providing a response to critics who believe races are expressions of innate genetic or biological differences. Instead, I am interested in how genetic research on human differences has divided social constructionists over whether the race concept in science can be used for social justice and redressing embodied forms of discrimination. On one side, there is the position that race is an inherently flawed concept and that its continued use by scientists, medical professionals, and even social activists keeps alive the notion that it has a biological basis. On the other side of this debate are those who maintain a social constructionist position yet argue that not all instances of race in science stem from discriminatory politics or the desire to prove that humans belong to discrete biological units that can then be classified as superior or inferior. I would like to shift this debate away from the question of whether race is real and move instead toward thinking about the intellectual commitments necessary for science to expose past legacies of discrimination.

scholarly journals More alike than different: Novel methods for measuring and modeling executive function development

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Younger ◽  
Kristine O'Laughlin ◽  
Joaquin Anguera ◽  
Silvia Bunge ◽  
Emilio Ferrer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Analytic Approach ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Novel Methods ◽  
Students Success ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Longitudinal Dataset

Abstract Executive functions (EFs) are linked to positive outcomes across the lifespan. Yet, methodological challenges have prevented rigorous understanding of the precise ways EFs are organized in childhood and how they develop over time. We introduce novel methods to address these challenges for both measuring and modeling EFs using a large, accelerated longitudinal dataset from a diverse sample of students in middle childhood (approximately ages 8 to 14; N = 1,286). Adaptive assessments allowed us to equate EF challenge across ages and a data-driven, network analytic approach revealed the evolving diversity of EFs while accounting for their unity. Our results suggest EF organization stabilizes around age 10, but continues refining through at least age 14. This approach brings new precision to EFs’ development by removing interpretative ambiguities associated with previous methodologies. By improving EF measurement, the field can move towards improving EF training, to provide a strong foundation for students’ success.

scholarly journals Cognitive ability and education: How behavioural genetic research has advanced our knowledge and understanding of their association

2020 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 229-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margherita Malanchini ◽  
Kaili Rimfeld ◽  
Andrea G. Allegrini ◽  
Stuart J. Ritchie ◽  
Robert Plomin
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Genetic Research

Nature, Nurture, and Cognitive Development from 1 to 16 Years: A Parent-Offspring Adoption Study

1997 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 442-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Plomin ◽  
David W. Fulker ◽  
Robin Corley ◽  
John C DeFries
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Verbal Ability ◽  
Adoptive Parents ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Adopted Children ◽  
Adoption Study ◽  
Biological Parents

Children increasingly resemble their parents in cognitive abilities from infancy through adolescence Results obtained from a 20-year longitudinal adoption study of 245 adopted children and their biological and adoptive parents, as well as 245 matched nonadoptive (control) parents and offspring, show that this increasing resemblance is due to genetic factors Adopted children resemble their adoptive parents slightly in early childhood but not at all in middle childhood or adolescence In contrast, during childhood and adolescence, adopted children become more like their biological parents, and to the same degree as children and parents in control families Although these results were strongest for general cognitive ability and verbal ability similar results were found for other specific cognitive abilities—spatial ability, speed of processing, and recognition memory These findings indicate that within this population, genes that stably affect cognitive abilities in adulthood do not all come into play until adolescence and that environmental factors that contribute to cognitive development are not correlated with parents' cognitive ability

scholarly journals Social origins, cognitive ability, educational attainment and Social Class Position in Britain: A birth cohort and life-course perspective

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erzsebet Bukodi ◽  
Mollie Bourne ◽  
Bastian Andreas Betthäuser ◽  
John H Goldthorpe
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Educational Success ◽  
Social Origins ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Training Programmes

The aim of this Summary Report is to show how social origins, when viewed in a comprehensive, multidimensional way, affect the educational and labour market attainments of individuals whose cognitive ability at a relatively early stage in their educational histories is at a similar level. The main findings of the report are: (1) Children of similar cognitive ability have very different chances of educational success, depending on their parents’ economic, socio-cultural and educational resources; (2) For children born in the early 1990s, parents’ economic resources are somewhat less important while parents’ socio-cultural and educational resources are more important in affecting their educational attainment than for children born in the late 1950s or the early 1970s; (3) About half of the difference in educational attainment between children from advantaged and disadvantaged parental backgrounds is due to a difference in their cognitive ability, while the other half is due to other factors. (4) Obtaining formal qualifications is only one channel for upward mobility for high- ability individuals of disadvantaged backgrounds; there are other channels that are more directly related to cognitive ability, such as job training programmes, promotions or becoming self-employed in higher-level occupations.

Genetic basis of rheumatoid arthritis: A current review

2014 ◽  
Vol 452 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuta Kochi ◽  
Akari Suzuki ◽  
Kazuhiko Yamamoto
Keyword(s):  
Rheumatoid Arthritis ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Current Review ◽  
A Current

scholarly journals Genetics of Human and Canine Dilated Cardiomyopathy

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siobhan Simpson ◽  
Jennifer Edwards ◽  
Thomas F. N. Ferguson-Mignan ◽  
Malcolm Cobb ◽  
Nigel P. Mongan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dilated Cardiomyopathy ◽  
Cardiac Disease ◽  
Clinical Characteristics ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Genetic Research ◽  
Current Position ◽  
Genetic Loci ◽  
The Third ◽  
Similar Disease ◽  
Canine Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death in both humans and dogs. Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) accounts for a large number of these cases, reported to be the third most common form of cardiac disease in humans and the second most common in dogs. In human studies of DCM there are more than 50 genetic loci associated with the disease. Despite canine DCM having similar disease progression to human DCM studies into the genetic basis of canine DCM lag far behind those of human DCM. In this review the aetiology, epidemiology, and clinical characteristics of canine DCM are examined, along with highlighting possible different subtypes of canine DCM and their potential relevance to human DCM. Finally the current position of genetic research into canine and human DCM, including the genetic loci, is identified and the reasons many studies may have failed to find a genetic association with canine DCM are reviewed.

scholarly journals Genetic research on cognitive ability

2002 ◽  
Vol 180 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-186
Author(s):  
R. Plomin ◽  
I. Craig
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Genetic Research
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