The correlation between reading and mathematics ability at age twelve has a substantial genetic component

Oliver S. P. Davis (), Gavin Band, Matti Pirinen, Claire M. A. Haworth, Emma L. Meaburn, Yulia Kovas, Nicole Harlaar, Sophia J. Docherty, Ken B. Hanscombe, Maciej Trzaskowski, Charles J. C. Curtis, Amy Strange, Colin Freeman, Céline Bellenguez, Zhan Su, Richard Pearson, Damjan Vukcevic, Cordelia Langford, Panos Deloukas, Sarah Hunt, Emma Gray, Serge Dronov, Simon C. Potter, Avazeh Tashakkori-Ghanbaria, Sarah Edkins, Suzannah J. Bumpstead, Jenefer M. Blackwell, Elvira Bramon, Matthew A. Brown, Juan P. Casas, Aiden Corvin, Audrey Duncanson, Janusz A. Z. Jankowski, Hugh S. Markus, Christopher G. Mathew, Colin N. A. Palmer, Anna Rautanen, Stephen J. Sawcer, Richard C. Trembath, Ananth C. Viswanathan, Nicholas W. Wood, Ines Barroso, Leena Peltonen, Philip S. Dale, Stephen A. Petrill, Leonard S. Schalkwyk, Ian W. Craig, Cathryn M. Lewis, Thomas S. Price, Peter Donnelly, Robert Plomin and Chris C. A. Spencer ()
Additional contact information
Oliver S. P. Davis: Evolution and Environment, UCL Genetics Institute, University College London
Gavin Band: Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford
Matti Pirinen: Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford
Claire M. A. Haworth: King’s College London, Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry
Emma L. Meaburn: Birkbeck, University of London
Yulia Kovas: Goldsmiths, University of London
Nicole Harlaar: University of Colorado Boulder
Sophia J. Docherty: King’s College London, Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry
Ken B. Hanscombe: King’s College London, Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry
Maciej Trzaskowski: King’s College London, Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry
Charles J. C. Curtis: King’s College London, Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry
Amy Strange: Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford
Colin Freeman: Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford
Céline Bellenguez: Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford
Zhan Su: Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford
Richard Pearson: Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford
Damjan Vukcevic: Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford
Cordelia Langford: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Panos Deloukas: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Sarah Hunt: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Emma Gray: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Serge Dronov: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Simon C. Potter: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Avazeh Tashakkori-Ghanbaria: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Sarah Edkins: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Suzannah J. Bumpstead: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Jenefer M. Blackwell: Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia
Elvira Bramon: UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London
Matthew A. Brown: University of Queensland Diamantia Institute, Translational Research Institute, Princess Alexandra Hospital, University of Queensland
Juan P. Casas: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Aiden Corvin: Neuropsychiatric Genetics Research Group, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Trinity College Dublin
Audrey Duncanson: Molecular and Physiological Sciences, The Wellcome Trust
Janusz A. Z. Jankowski: Centre for Digestive Diseases, Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London
Hugh S. Markus: Clinical Neurosciences, Saint George's University of London
Christopher G. Mathew: King’s College London, King’s Health Partners Guy’s Hospital
Colin N. A. Palmer: Biomedical Research Centre, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School
Anna Rautanen: Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford
Stephen J. Sawcer: University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke’s Hospital
Richard C. Trembath: King’s College London, King’s Health Partners Guy’s Hospital
Ananth C. Viswanathan: NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHSFT and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology
Nicholas W. Wood: Institute of Neurology, University College London
Ines Barroso: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Leena Peltonen: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Philip S. Dale: University of New Mexico
Stephen A. Petrill: Institute for Population Research, The Ohio State University
Leonard S. Schalkwyk: King’s College London, Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry
Ian W. Craig: King’s College London, Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry
Cathryn M. Lewis: King’s College London, Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry
Thomas S. Price: Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Peter Donnelly: Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford
Robert Plomin: King’s College London, Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry
Chris C. A. Spencer: Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Dissecting how genetic and environmental influences impact on learning is helpful for maximizing numeracy and literacy. Here we show, using twin and genome-wide analysis, that there is a substantial genetic component to children’s ability in reading and mathematics, and estimate that around one half of the observed correlation in these traits is due to shared genetic effects (so-called Generalist Genes). Thus, our results highlight the potential role of the learning environment in contributing to differences in a child’s cognitive abilities at age twelve.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms5204 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5204

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5204

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().