The longitudinal relationship between processing speed and cognitive ability: genetic and environmental influences
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Using Cholesky Decomposition to Explore Individual Differences in Longitudinal Relations between Reading Skills
Published on: September 17, 2019
Deborah Finkel1, Chandra A Reynolds, John J McArdle
1School of Social Sciences, Indiana University Southeast, 4201 Grant Line Road, New Albany, IN 47150, USA. dfinkel@ius.edu
Abstract:
Goals of the present study were to investigate the relationship between age changes in speed and cognition and the genetic and environmental influences on that relationship. Latent growth models and quantitative genetic methods were applied to data from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging. The sample included 778 individuals from both complete and incomplete twin pairs who participated in at least 1 of 4 testing occasions over a 13-year-period. Four factors were constructed from 11 cognitive measures: verbal, spatial, memory, and processing speed. Results indicate that for measures of fluid abilities, the explanatory value of processing speed is paramount for both mean cognitive performance and acceleration with age. A significant proportion of the genetic influences on cognitive ability arose from genetic factors affecting processing speed. For measures of fluid abilities, it is not the linear age changes but the accelerating age changes in cognition that share genetic variance with processing speed.
More Related Videos
13:00Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments
Published on: January 23, 2017
16:23Automated, Quantitative Cognitive/Behavioral Screening of Mice: For Genetics, Pharmacology, Animal Cognition and Undergraduate Instruction
Published on: February 26, 2014
Related Concept Videos
Biological Influences on Intelligence
Environmental Influences on Intelligence
Information Processing Approach
Gene-Environment Interactions
Human Genetics
The complex relationship between genetics and psychology is observable through common biological components such...
Behavioral Genetics and Its Designs
The primary methodologies used in behavior genetics include family studies, twin studies, and adoption studies, each providing unique...