title: Genes influence young children's human figure drawings and their association with intelligence a decade later.
abstract: Drawing is ancient; it is the only childhood cognitive behavior for which there is any direct evidence from the Upper Paleolithic. Do genes influence individual differences in this species-typical behavior, and is drawing related to intelligence (g) in modern children? We report on the first genetically informative study of children's figure drawing. In a study of 7,752 pairs of twins, we found that genetic differences exert a greater influence on children's figure drawing at age 4 than do between-family environmental differences. Figure drawing was as heritable as g at age 4 (heritability of .29 for both). Drawing scores at age 4 correlated significantly with g at age 4 (r = .33, p < .001, n = 14,050) and with g at age 14 (r = .20, p < .001, n = 4,622). The genetic correlation between drawing at age 4 and g at age 14 was .52, 95% confidence interval = [.31, .75]. Individual differences in this widespread behavior have an important genetic component and a significant genetic link with g.
authors.affiliation: MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London rosalind.arden@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Rosalind
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Arden
authors.affiliation: MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trzaskowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Garfield
authors.affiliation: MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Plomin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D003405:Creativity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence / Q000235:genetics*; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D014429:Twins, Dizygotic / Q000235:genetics*; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: cognition(s); cognitive ability; creativity