Human fetalj neural stem cellsFLICKR, GE HEALTHCARE
In at least one population, about half of intelligence differences between individuals can be attributed to genetics—specifically, the sum of many small effects from hundreds or even thousands of genes. The study, published today (August 9) in Molecular Psychiatry, is the first to pin down the genetic influence on cognitive abilities.
“The value of this paper is that it is the first clear and empirical demonstration that part of intelligence comes down to something which is writ in DNA,” said Patrick Sullivan, a psychiatric geneticist at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, who was not involved in the study.
For decades, scientists have fiercely debated how much of the variation in individual intelligence can be attributed to genes. Studies of identical twins have suggested that ...
