Progress in the Molecular-Genetic Study of Intelligence

Abstract

The past decade has seen a major shift in the genetic study of human intelligence; where classic studies aimed to quantify the heritability of intelligence, current studies aim to dissect this heritability into its molecular-genetic components. Five whole-genome linkage scans have been published in the past year, converging on several chromosomal (or genomic) regions important to intelligence. A handful of candidate genes, some of which lie in these genomic regions, have shown significant association to intelligence and the associations have been replicated in independent samples. Finding genes brings us closer to an understanding of the neurophysiological basis of human cognition. Furthermore, when genes are no longer latent factors in our models but can actually be measured, it becomes feasible to identify those environmental factors that interact and correlate with genetic makeup. This will supplant the long nature–nurture debate with actual understanding.