Cognitive and brain development is independently influenced by socioeconomic status and polygenic scores for educational attainment

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 117; no. 22; pp. 12411 - 12418
• Main Authors: Judd, Nicholas, Sauce, Bruno, Wiedenhoeft, John, Tromp, Jeshua, Chaarani, Bader, Schliep, Alexander, van Noort, Betteke, Penttilä, Jani, Grimmer, Yvonne, Insensee, Corinna, Becker, Andreas, Banaschewski, Tobias, Bokde, Arun L. W., Quinlan, Erin Burke, Desrivières, Sylvane, Flor, Herta, Grigis, Antoine, Gowland, Penny, Heinz, Andreas, Ittermann, Bernd, Martinot, Jean-Luc, Martinot, Marie-Laure Paillère, Artiges, Eric, Nees, Frauke, Orfanos, Dimitri Papadopoulos, Paus, Tomáš, Poustka, Luise, Hohmann, Sarah, Millenet, Sabina, Fröhner, Juliane H., Smolkaa, Michael N., Walter, Henrik, Whelanc, Robert, Schuman, Gunter, Garavan, Hugh, Klingberg, Torkel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 02.06.2020
• Subjects: Academic Success; Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; association; Biological Sciences; Brain; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - growth & development; Brain - physiology; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; common; Correlation analysis; cortex; cortical thickness; development; Education; Educational attainment; Educational Status; Environmental organizations; family; Female; Functions (mathematics); Genetic factors; Genetics; Humans; Inequalities; intelligence; Longitudinal Studies; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Mathematical analysis; matter volume; Memory tasks; Memory, Short-Term; metaanalysis; Multifactorial Inheritance; Neurosciences; Neurovetenskaper; Parietal lobe; polygenic scores; Science & Technology - Other Topics; Short term memory; Social Class; Social Sciences; Socioeconomic factors; socioeconomic status; Socioeconomics; structural MRI; Surface area; trajectories; working memory; Young Adult; development; structural MRI; polygenic scores; working memory; socioeconomic status
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2001228117

Genetic factors and socioeconomic status (SES) inequalities play a large role in educational attainment, and both have been associated with variations in brain structure and cognition. However, genetics and SES are correlated, and no prior study has assessed their neural associations independently. Here we used a polygenic score for educational attainment (EduYears-PGS), as well as SES, in a longitudinal study of 551 adolescents to tease apart genetic and environmental associations with brain development and cognition. Subjects received a structural MRI scan at ages 14 and 19. At both time points, they performed three working memory (WM) tasks. SES and EduYears-PGS were correlated (r = 0.27) and had both common and independent associations with brain structure and cognition. Specifically, lower SES was related to less total cortical surface area and lower WM. EduYears-PGS was also related to total cortical surface area, but in addition had a regional association with surface area in the right parietal lobe, a region related to nonverbal cognitive functions, including mathematics, spatial cognition, and WM. SES, but not EduYears-PGS, was related to a change in total cortical surface area from age 14 to 19. This study demonstrates a regional association of EduYears-PGS and the independent prediction of SES with cognitive function and brain development. It suggests that the SES inequalities, in particular parental education, are related to global aspects of cortical development, and exert a persistent influence on brain development during adolescence.