期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2017
卷号：114
期号：10
页码：2777-2782
DOI：10.1073/pnas.1607883114
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Spatial abilities encompass several skills differentiable from general cognitive ability ( g ). Importantly, spatial abilities have been shown to be significant predictors of many life outcomes, even after controlling for g. To date, no studies have analyzed the genetic architecture of diverse spatial abilities using a multivariate approach. We developed “gamified” measures of diverse putative spatial abilities. The battery of 10 tests was administered online to 1,367 twin pairs (age 19–21) from the UK-representative Twins Early Development Study (TEDS). We show that spatial abilities constitute a single factor, both phenotypically and genetically, even after controlling for g . This spatial ability factor is highly heritable (69%). We draw three conclusions: ( i ) The high heritability of spatial ability makes it a good target for gene-hunting research; ( ii ) some genes will be specific to spatial ability, independent of g ; and ( iii ) these genes will be associated with all components of spatial ability.
