Genetic specificity of face recognition

Specific cognitive abilities in diverse domains are typically found to be highly heritable and substantially correlated with general cognitive ability (g), both phenotypically and genetically. Recent twin studies have found the ability to memorize and recognize faces to be an exception, being simila...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 112; no. 41; pp. 12887 - 12892
Main Authors Shakeshaft, Nicholas G., Plomin, Robert
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 13.10.2015
National Acad Sciences
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
Biological Sciences
Cognition - physiology
Face
Female
Humans
Male
Recognition, Psychology - physiology
Twins, Dizygotic
Twins, Monozygotic
Visual Perception - genetics
face perception
behavioral genetics
cognitive psychology
twin study
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Summary:Specific cognitive abilities in diverse domains are typically found to be highly heritable and substantially correlated with general cognitive ability (g), both phenotypically and genetically. Recent twin studies have found the ability to memorize and recognize faces to be an exception, being similarly heritable but phenotypically substantially uncorrelated both with g and with general object recognition. However, the genetic relationships between face recognition and other abilities (the extent to which they share a common genetic etiology) cannot be determined from phenotypic associations. In this, to our knowledge, first study of the genetic associations between face recognition and other domains, 2,000 18- and 19-year-old United Kingdom twins completed tests assessing their face recognition, object recognition, and general cognitive abilities. Results confirmed the substantial heritability of face recognition (61%), and multivariate genetic analyses found that most of this genetic influence is unique and not shared with other cognitive abilities.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
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Author contributions: N.G.S. and R.P. designed research; N.G.S. performed research; N.G.S. analyzed data; and N.G.S. and R.P. wrote the paper.
Edited by Nancy Kanwisher, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, and approved August 25, 2015 (received for review December 24, 2014)
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1421881112