title: Cognitive traits link to human chromosomal regions.
abstract: : Human cognition in normal and disease states is both environmentally and genetically mediated. Except for measures of language-specific abilities, however, few cognitive measures have been associated with specific genes or chromosomal regions. We performed genome-wide linkage analysis of five neuropsychological tests in the Collaborative Study on Genetics of Alcoholism sample. The sample included 1579 individuals (53% female, 76% White Non-Hispanic) in 217 families. There were 390 markers with mean inter-marker distance of 9.6 cM. Performance on the Digit Symbol Substitution Test, a component of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-R, showed significant linkage to 14q11.2 and suggestive linkage to 14q 24.2. This test of sustained visual attention also involves visual-motor coordination and executive functions. Performance on the WAIS-R Digit Span Test of immediate memory and mental flexibility showed suggestive linkage to 11q 25. Although the validity of these results beyond populations with a susceptibility for alcohol dependence is unclear, these results are among the first linkage results for non-language components of cognition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA. buyske@stat.rutgers.edu
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buyske
authors.forename: Marsha E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Bates
authors.forename: Neda
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gharani
authors.forename: Tara C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Matise
authors.forename: Jay A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Tischfield
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Manowitz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics; D001288:Attention; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D002877:Chromosomes, Human; D002883:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 14; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010375:Pedigree