Genetic and environmental influences on executive functions: Spatial planning and spatial working memory.

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Ismatullina, V.; Malykh, S.; Kovas, Yulia and Voronin, I. 2012. Genetic and environmental influences on executive functions: Spatial planning and spatial working memory. International Journal of Psychology, 47(S1), p. 139. ISSN 0020-7594 [Article]

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Official URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1080/002075...

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Genetic and environmental influences on executive functions: Spatial planning and spatial working memory
Victoria Ismatullina Psychological Institute of RAE, Russian Federation; Sergey Malykh; Yulia Kovas; Ivan Voronin

Genetic influences on executive functions have been of increasing interest to psychologists in a wide variety of domains (Friedman et al., 2011; Gau & Shang, 2010; O'Connor et al., 2009). Specific cognitive abilities such as processing speed, working memory, spatial ability and verbal ability have shown heritabilities that range from 30% to 60% in both young and elderly subjects (Singer et al., 2005). We aimed our study at assessing the genetic and environmental contributions to variability of spatial planning and spatial working memory. To assess the executive functions of interest we used a computer version of the battery of neuropsychological tests CANTAB “Eclipse”, the “Stockings of Cambridge” (SOC) test. The sample included 61 pairs of monozygotic twins and 57 dizygotic same-sex twin pairs, aged from 11 to 17 years old (mean age 13.2). Model-fitting was used to estimate the contributions of genetic and environmental influences; all analyses were conducted in “OpenMX” software. The individual differences in “Initial thinking” parameter were explained by “shared environmental” (19%) and “nonshared environmental” (81%) effects. “Additive genetic” (24%), “shared envirionmental” (16%) and “nonshared environmental” (60%) effects contributed to “Mean subsequent thinking time” parameter. For the “Mean moves” parameter 21% was explained by “additive genetic”, 13% by “shared environmental”, and 66% by “nonshared environmental” effects.

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Article

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https://doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2012.709136