Genetic covariation between theAuthor Recognition Test and reading and verbal abilities: what can we learn from the analysis of high performance?
The Author Recognition Test (ART) measures print exposure and is a unique predictor of phonological and orthographic processes in reading. In a sample of adolescent and young adult twins and siblings (216 MZ/430 DZ pairs, 307 singletons; aged 11-29 years) ART scores were moderately heritable (67%) and correlated with reading and verbal abilities, with genes largely accounting for the covariance. We also examine whether high (and low) (i.e. 1SD above the mean) represents a quantitative extreme of the normal distribution. Heritability for high ART was of similar magnitude to the full sample, but, a specific genetic factor, independent from both low ART performance and high reading ability, accounted for 53-58% of the variance. This suggests a distinct genetic etiology for high ART ability and we speculate that the specific genetic influence is on orthographical processing, a critical factor in developing word recognition skills.
Martin
Nicolas W
NW
Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, PO Royal Brisbane Hospital, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. nico.martin@qimr.edu.au
Hansell
Narelle K
NK
Wainwright
Mark A
MA
Shekar
Sri N
SN
Medland
Sarah E
SE
Bates
Timothy C
TC
Burt
Jennifer S
JS
Martin
Nicholas G
NG
Wright
Margaret J
MJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001076:Aptitude; D001077:Aptitude Tests; D002648:Child; D002672:Child, Gifted / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D004843:Epistasis, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010641:Phenotype; D010700:Phonetics; D011793:Queensland; D011932:Reading; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D035781:Siblings / Q000523:psychology; D012931:Social Environment; D014429:Twins, Dizygotic / Q000235:genetics*; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic / Q000235:genetics*; D014706:Verbal Learning; D014825:Vocabulary; D055815:Young Adult