Genetic analysis of IQ, processing speed and stimulus-response incongruency effects

Biol Psychol. 2002 Oct;61(1-2):157-82. doi: 10.1016/s0301-0511(02)00057-1.

Abstract

Psychometric IQ (WAIS-III), onset and peak latency of the lateralized readiness potential (LRP), decision time, and accuracy were assessed during an Eriksen Flanker task in a young (149 families) and in an older (122 families) cohort of twins and their siblings. Stimulus-response incongruency effects were found on all measures of processing speed and accuracy. The effects on the percentages of wrong button presses and too slow (>1,000 ms) responses were larger in the older than in the younger age cohort. Significant heritability was found for processing speed (33-48%), accuracy (41%), and stimulus-response incongruency effects (3-32%). Verbal and performance IQ correlated significantly with stimulus-response incongruency effects on accuracy (-0.22 to -0.39), and this correlation was completely mediated by an underlying set of common genes. It is concluded that measures of the ability to perform well under conditions of stimulus-response incongruency are viable endophenotypes of cognitive ability.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Twin Study

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology*
  • Cohort Studies
  • Contingent Negative Variation / genetics*
  • Decision Making / physiology
  • Discrimination Learning / physiology
  • Dominance, Cerebral / genetics
  • Dominance, Cerebral / physiology
  • Electroencephalography
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Intelligence / genetics*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology
  • Reaction Time / genetics*
  • Twins, Dizygotic / genetics*
  • Twins, Monozygotic / genetics*
  • Wechsler Scales