Phenotypic and genetic evidence for a unifactorial structure of spatial abilities

Spatial abilities encompass several skills differentiable from general cognitive ability (g). Importantly, spatial abilities have been shown to be significant predictors of many life outcomes, even after controlling for g. To date, no studies have analyzed the genetic architecture of diverse spatial...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 114; no. 10; pp. 2777 - 2782
Main Authors Rimfeld, Kaili, Shakeshaft, Nicholas G., Malanchini, Margherita, Rodic, Maja, Selzam, Saskia, Schofield, Kerry, Dale, Philip S., Kovas, Yulia, Plomin, Robert
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 07.03.2017
Subjects
Adult
Biological Sciences
Cognitive ability
Female
Genes
Genotype & phenotype
Humans
Intelligence - genetics
Intelligence - physiology
Male
Spatial Navigation - physiology
Twin Studies as Topic
Twins, Dizygotic - genetics
Twins, Monozygotic - genetics
United Kingdom
behavioral genetics
spatial ability
twin studies
mental rotation
intelligence
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Summary:Spatial abilities encompass several skills differentiable from general cognitive ability (g). Importantly, spatial abilities have been shown to be significant predictors of many life outcomes, even after controlling for g. To date, no studies have analyzed the genetic architecture of diverse spatial abilities using a multivariate approach. We developed “gamified” measures of diverse putative spatial abilities. The battery of 10 tests was administered online to 1,367 twin pairs (age 19–21) from the UK-representative Twins Early Development Study (TEDS). We show that spatial abilities constitute a single factor, both phenotypically and genetically, even after controlling for g. This spatial ability factor is highly heritable (69%). We draw three conclusions: (i) The high heritability of spatial abilitymakes it a good target for gene-hunting research; (ii) some genes will be specific to spatial ability, independent of g; and (iii) these genes will be associated with all components of spatial ability.
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Author contributions: K.R., N.G.S., M.M., M.R., S.S., K.S., P.S.D., Y.K., and R.P. designed research; K.R., N.G.S., M.M., M.R., S.S., K.S., P.S.D., Y.K., and R.P. performed research; K.R., N.G.S., and R.P. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; K.R. and N.G.S. analyzed data; and K.R., N.G.S., M.M., and R.P. wrote the paper.
Edited by Daniel J. Benjamin, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, and accepted by Editorial Board Member Michael S. Gazzaniga January 18, 2017 (received for review May 17, 2016)
1K.R. and N.G.S. contributed equally to this work.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1607883114