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Intelligence, Genetics Of: Heritability and Causation Intelligence, Genetics of: Heritability and Causation a risk factor for Alzheimers-disease. Psychological Medicine 25: 223–9 Skodak M, Skeels H M 1949 A final follow-up on one hundred adopted children. Journal of Genetic Psychology 75: 84–125 Wilson R S 1983 The Louisville Twin Study: Developmental synchronies in behavior. Child Deelopment 54: 298–316 R. Plomin Intelligence, Genetics of: Heritability and Causation In theory, the ‘genetics of intelligence’ describes the extent to which, and manner by which, an individual’s Figure 1 mental abilities are influenced by his or her genes. In The frequency distribution for an idealized IQ test. practice, there is a lot of debate and no universally Raw scores from a test are rescaled to fit the shape of a accepted description of the genetics of intelligence. normal curve with mean at 100 and standard deviation Intelligence is regarded as a complex trait, meaning of 15. Consequently, when the test is devised, 95 that many genetic and environmental factors are percent of the population will have IQ scores that fall thought to influence it. Nevertheless, we know little between 70 and 130 by construction about the number or nature of genes that influence cognitive abilities. We know even less about how the different aspects of intelligence interact with one expression of these genes depends on other genes or on another and that these interactions generate the environmental factors. To complicate matters even observed correlations (Hunt 1997). For example, further, there are numerous facets of intelligence, each strength in one area of intelligence (e.g., memory) of which may be influenced in different ways by genes might compensate for weakness in another area (e.g., and the environment. This article focuses on the linguistic ability), causing a person’s abilities in these genetics of human intelligence and on the problems of areas to be more similar than would be expected for assessing the genetic and environmental contributions uncorrelated traits. A compelling reason to believe to intelligence. To begin, definitions and measures of that the various facets of intelligence are not just intelligence will be described. The effects of genes alternate manifestations of some underlying g factor is known to influence intelligence will then be mentioned. that they respond in different ways to aging and Finally, the degree to which variation in intelligence education. For example, Horn (1985) noted that among humans may be genetically based will be measures of ‘fluid intelligence’ (the ability to solve new discussed. problems) generally declines with age among adults whereas ‘crystallized intelligence’ (the ability to apply known problem-solving methods to a problem at 1. Intelligence is a Multifaceted Trait hand; see Cattell 1971) tends to increase with age and experience. A final possibility is that there are both Before one can study the genetics of a trait, one has to general and specific cognitive factors that interact in a define precisely what the trait is and how it can be myriad of ways for different aspects of intelligences measured. Once a measure has been defined for a trait, (e.g., Spearman 1904, Vernon 1979, Carroll 1993). then one can begin to tackle the question of how an In most genetic studies, some variant of the Intel- individual’s score may be influenced by genetic and ligence Quotient (IQ) is used as a single measure of environmental factors. Specifying an appropriate scale intelligence, ignoring the multifaceted nature of intel- for intelligence is complicated by the fact that in- ligence (for exceptions see Cardon et al. 1992, Cardon telligence is a multifaceted trait. That is, there are and Fulker 1994, Pederson et al. 1994). The IQ several aspects of intelligence, involving reasoning, measure grew out of studies by Alfred Binet on the abstraction, problem solving, memory, linguistic ap- ages at which children display skills of varying titude, artistic ability, etc. Abilities in these different difficulty. Binet (1905) developed a series of age-scaled areas tend to be correlated to some extent within a tests to assess the mental age of children. Wilhelm population, which has led some authors to posit the Stern (1916) used these tests to devise the IQ, defined existence of an underlying general intelligence factor, g as the mental age of a child divided by his or her (Spearman 1904). It is argued that the g factor directly chronological age multiplied by 100. Similar scales influences many different aspects of intelligence, caus- have been devised for adults, such as the Wechsler ing them to be correlated. Another possibility is that Adult Intelligence Scale and the Stanford-Binet Inte- 7651 Intelligence, Genetics of: Heritability and Causation lligence Scale. These scales have been plagued with (http:\\www3.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\Omim\). A search controversy over the degree to which the measures are for entries describing intellectual impairment, mental biased in favor of certain classes, cultures, races, or sex retardation, or dementia turned up almost 1,000 (Gould 1996, Schiff and Lewontin 1986, Wahlsten syndromes, although many of these might not be 1997). It is argued that there can be no completely genetically independent. Familiar examples include objective measure of intelligence, since what it means Down’s syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s to be intelligent and who is perceived to be intelligent disease, fragile X syndrome, Prader–Willi syndrome, are social constructs subject to change. Tay-Sachs disease, Wolf–Hirschhorn syndrome, and Scores on IQ tests are adjusted so that they follow a Rubinstein syndrome. Through the human genome normal distribution, or a ‘bell curve,’ with a mean of project, more genetic details will be uncovered for 100 (Fig. 1). An indication of the importance of these and other human traits and diseases. environmental factors on IQ is that these scales must Even in those cases where a mutation has been constantly be readjusted over time, a phenomenon identified that ‘causes’ a disorder affecting intelligence, known as the ‘cohort effect.’ In many countries, the the mental development of patients carrying the average IQ score has risen over time (Flynn 1987, mutation can be greatly improved by environmental Wahlsten 1997). For example, the average IQ score conditions. A classic example of the interplay between based on Ravens Progressive Matrices of 18-year old genes and the environment in mental development is males from The Netherlands has increased from 100 in phenylketonuria (PKU). PKU is a recessive disease 1952 (when the test was developed and standardized) caused by a mutation at the phenylalanine hydroxylase to 106 in 1962, 112.4 in 1972, and 121.1 in 1981\2. This gene (PAH) on chromosome 12. People with PKU do time-span is far too short for genetic changes in the not produce enough of the enzyme, PAH, which composition of the population to account for the oxidizes phenylalanine and converts it into tyrosine. increases. Rather, these data are evidence that chang- Without this enzyme, phenylalanine levels increase to ing educational and social environments can have a poisonous levels in the body, giving rise to a number of dramatic effect on whatever aspects of intelligence symptoms including mental retardation, a ‘mousy’ were measured by this IQ test. odor, light pigmentation, unusual posture, eczema, and epilepsy (Paine 1957). All of these manifestations of the disease may be prevented, however, by a 2. Genes Known to Affect Intelligence straightforward change in the environment: a diet low in phenylalanine. Intelligence, like any human attribute, is partly a It is crucial to remember that understanding the product of our genes, simply because we would not be genetics of severe mental disorders may reveal little living human beings without these genes. However, about how intelligence develops normally and how human intelligence is partly a product of our en- this development depends on genetics. By analogy, vironment, because mental impairment can be caused, understanding the environmental risk factors as- for example, by exposure to toxins such as lead during sociated with brain damage from severe meningitis development. Between these two trivial statements lies (inflammation of the tissues surrounding the brain) an entire spectrum of possibilities, and a heated ‘nature reveals little about environmental influences on nor- versus nurture’ debate has grown over the extent to mal brain development. which individual differences in intelligence are genet- ically based (Devlin et al. 1997b, Fraser 1995, Herrn- stein and Murray 1994, Jensen 1969, Lewontin et al. 3. Population-based Estimates of the Genetics of 1984, McInerney 1996). Intelligence The human genome contains between 30,000 and 100,000 genes. Although the number of genes that Although severe mutations at many genes may affect affect intelligence is unknown, there is reason to believe intelligence, it does not follow that the majority of that the number is large. Measures of intelligence, such differences observed among individuals within a popu- as IQ, are most likely quantitative genetic traits lation are due to genetic differences. In fact, genes that, influenced by hundreds or thousands of genes. Most of when disrupted, have large effects on mental abilities these genes will not be ‘intelligence’ genes, per se, but may not be responsible for any of the more minor rather genes that are critical to normal development. differences seen among individuals. An entirely dif- Severe mutations in such genes would affect several ferent approach must be taken to assess the extent to traits, not just mental ability, causing a disease which variability in a trait is based on genetic syndrome with multiple symptoms. These severe differences within a population. In animals and plants, mutations are the most studied, in large part because one would raise individuals in controlled environ- they are the easiest to detect. mental conditions and measure trait differences among Geneticists have compiled over 10,000 genes and these individuals.
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