title: Genetic contributions to stability and change in intelligence from childhood to old age.
abstract: Understanding the determinants of healthy mental ageing is a priority for society today. So far, we know that intelligence differences show high stability from childhood to old age and there are estimates of the genetic contribution to intelligence at different ages. However, attempts to discover whether genetic causes contribute to differences in cognitive ageing have been relatively uninformative. Here we provide an estimate of the genetic and environmental contributions to stability and change in intelligence across most of the human lifetime. We used genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data from 1,940 unrelated individuals whose intelligence was measured in childhood (age 11 years) and again in old age (age 65, 70 or 79 years). We use a statistical method that allows genetic (co)variance to be estimated from SNP data on unrelated individuals. We estimate that causal genetic variants in linkage disequilibrium with common SNPs account for 0.24 of the variation in cognitive ability change from childhood to old age. Using bivariate analysis, we estimate a genetic correlation between intelligence at age 11 years and in old age of 0.62. These estimates, derived from rarely available data on lifetime cognitive measures, warrant the search for genetic causes of cognitive stability and change.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK. i.deary@ed.ac.uk
authors.forename: Ian J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Deary
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Gail
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tenesa
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liewald
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Luciano
authors.forename: Lorna M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.forename: Alan J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Gow
authors.forename: Janie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Corley
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Redmond
authors.forename: Helen C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.forename: Suzanne J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Rowe
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Haggarty
authors.forename: Geraldine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McNeill
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Goddard
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Porteous
authors.forename: Lawrence J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Whalley
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Starr
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Visscher
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D015894:Genome, Human / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010641:Phenotype; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*