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Visual search: Heritability and association with general intelligence.

Patrick D Quinn1, David López Pérez2, Daniel P Kennedy3

  • 1Department of Applied Health Science, School of Public Health, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.

Genes, Brain, and Behavior
|January 19, 2022
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Summary

Visual search performance is moderately heritable, with genes playing a significant role. However, shared genetic influences between visual search and general intelligence are minimal, challenging the generalist genes hypothesis.

Keywords:
cognitionetiologyevolutiongeneticsindividual differences

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral Genetics
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Human Genetics

Background:

  • Visual search is crucial for goal-directed actions across species.
  • Individual differences in visual search and their genetic underpinnings are not well understood.
  • The overlap between visual search and broader cognitive abilities, like general intelligence, requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the heritability of visual search performance.
  • To examine the phenotypic and genetic correlations between visual search and general intelligence.
  • To test the generalist genes hypothesis regarding shared genetic influences on cognitive functions.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a twin study design with 156 monozygotic (MZ) and 158 same-sex dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs.
  • Assessed visual search performance using response latency and visual search efficiency metrics.
  • Measured general intelligence using established cognitive assessments.

Main Results:

  • Visual search performance, including response latency and efficiency, demonstrated moderate heritability.
  • Phenotypic correlations between visual search and general intelligence were small to moderate.
  • A small proportion of genetic variance in visual search was shared with genetic variance in intelligence.

Conclusions:

  • Genetic factors significantly contribute to individual differences in visual search.
  • Shared genetic influences between visual search and general intelligence are limited.
  • Findings suggest that while visual search is heritable, it may not extensively share genetic underpinnings with general intelligence as proposed by the generalist genes hypothesis.