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Genetic pleiotropy explains associations between musical auditory discrimination and intelligence
Miriam A Mosing1, Nancy L Pedersen2, Guy Madison3
1Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Plos One
|November 25, 2014
Summary
Genetic factors significantly influence musical aptitude and intelligence. Shared genetic influences explain the correlations between musical discrimination tasks and general intelligence (IQ).
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Genetics
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Auditory Perception
Background:
- Musical aptitude is often assessed via auditory discrimination tasks.
- These tasks correlate with each other and with general intelligence (IQ).
- Previous research lacked genetic insights into these associations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the genetic and environmental influences on the relationship between intelligence and musical auditory discrimination.
- To examine the genetic architecture underlying correlations between rhythm, melody, pitch discrimination, and IQ.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a large-scale Swedish twin study (N = 10,500).
- Applied genetic modeling to analyze phenotypic correlations and estimate genetic/environmental contributions.
- Examined associations between intelligence and three musical auditory discrimination tasks.
Main Results:
- Phenotypic correlations between musical tasks ranged from 0.23 to 0.42.
- Shared genetic influences explained the covariation between musical discrimination tasks and IQ.
- Environmental factors (shared and non-shared) did not significantly impact these associations.
- A two-factor genetic model provided a good fit, indicating broad cognitive and specific auditory genetic factors.
Conclusions:
- The positive correlations between musical aptitudes and intelligence are largely attributable to shared genetic factors.
- Genes with broad cognitive effects and those with more specific auditory influences contribute to musical aptitude.
- Genetic influences, rather than environmental factors, primarily explain the link between musical skills and cognitive ability.
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