The Dynamic Associations Between Cortical Thickness and General Intelligence are Genetically Mediated

J Eric Schmitt; Armin Raznahan; Liv S Clasen; Greg L Wallace; Joshua N Pritikin; Nancy Raitano Lee; Jay N Giedd; Michael C Neale

doi:10.1093/cercor/bhz007

The Dynamic Associations Between Cortical Thickness and General Intelligence are Genetically Mediated

Cereb Cortex. 2019 Dec 17;29(11):4743-4752. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhz007.

Authors

J Eric Schmitt¹, Armin Raznahan², Liv S Clasen², Greg L Wallace³, Joshua N Pritikin⁴, Nancy Raitano Lee⁵, Jay N Giedd⁶, Michael C Neale⁷

Affiliations

¹ Departments of Radiology and Psychiatry, Division of Neuroradiology, Brain Behavior Laboratory, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
² Developmental Neurogenomics Unit, Human Genetics Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Building 10, Room 4D18, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD, USA.
³ Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The George Washington University, 2115 G Street NW, Hall of Government, Room 226, Washington, DC, USA.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, PO Box 980126, Richmond, VA, USA.
⁵ Department of Psychology, Drexel University, 3201 Chestnut Street, Stratton Hall, Room 123E, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive #0949, La Jolla, CA, USA.
⁷ Departments of Psychiatry and Genetics, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, PO Box 980126, Richmond, VA, USA.

Abstract

The neural substrates of intelligence represent a fundamental but largely uncharted topic in human developmental neuroscience. Prior neuroimaging studies have identified modest but highly dynamic associations between intelligence and cortical thickness (CT) in childhood and adolescence. In a separate thread of research, quantitative genetic studies have repeatedly demonstrated that most measures of intelligence are highly heritable, as are many brain regions associated with intelligence. In the current study, we integrate these 2 streams of prior work by examining the genetic contributions to CT-intelligence relationships using a genetically informative longitudinal sample of 813 typically developing youth, imaged with high-resolution MRI and assessed with Wechsler Intelligence Scales (IQ). In addition to replicating the phenotypic association between multimodal association cortex and language centers with IQ, we find that CT-IQ covariance is nearly entirely genetically mediated. Moreover, shared genetic factors drive the rapidly evolving landscape of CT-IQ relationships in the developing brain.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00001246.

Keywords: MRI; cortical thickness; genetics; intelligence; neurodevelopment.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Twin Study

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Cerebral Cortex / anatomy & histology*
Cerebral Cortex / growth & development
Cerebral Cortex / physiology*
Child
Connectome
Female
Humans
Intelligence / genetics*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Phenotype
Wechsler Scales
Young Adult

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT00001246

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Associated data

Grants and funding