Pathfinder:a gamified measure to integrate general cognitive ability into the biological, medical, and behavioural sciences

Abstract

Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have uncovered DNA variants associated with individual differences in general cognitive ability (g), but these are far from capturing heritability estimates obtained from twin studies. A major barrier to finding more of this ‘missing heritability’ is assessment––the use of diverse measures across GWA studies as well as time and the cost of assessment. In a series of four studies, we created a 15-min (40-item), online, gamified measure of g that is highly reliable (alpha = 0.78; two-week test-retest reliability = 0.88), psychometrically valid and scalable; we called this new measure Pathfinder. In a fifth study, we administered this measure to 4,751 young adults from the Twins Early Development Study. This novel g measure, which also yields reliable verbal and nonverbal scores, correlated substantially with standard measures of g collected at previous ages (r ranging from 0.42 at age 7 to 0.57 at age 16). Pathfinder showed substantial twin heritability (0.57, 95% CIs = 0.43, 0.68) and SNP heritability (0.37, 95% CIs = 0.04, 0.70). A polygenic score computed from GWA studies of five cognitive and educational traits accounted for 12% of the variation in g, the strongest DNA-based prediction of g to date. Widespread use of this engaging new measure will advance research not only in genomics but throughout the biological, medical, and behavioural sciences.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Malanchini, Margherita Rimfeld, Kaili Gidziela, Agnieszka Cheesman, Rosa Allegrini, Andrea G. Shakeshaft, Nicholas Schofield, Kerry Packer, Amy Ogden, Rachel McMillan, Andrew Ritchie, Stuart J. Dale, Philip S. Eley, Thalia C. von Stumm, Sophie https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0447-5471 Plomin, Robert
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	Funding Information: We gratefully acknowledge the ongoing contribution of the participants in the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) and their families. TEDS is supported by a programme grant to RP and TCE from the UK Medical Research Council (MR/ V012878/1 and previously MR/M021475/1), with additional support from the US National Institutes of Health (AG046938). KR is supported by a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship. AG is supported by a Queen Mary School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences PhD Fellowship awarded to MM. This study presents independent research [part-] funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London. We thank Emily Smith-Woolley and Ziada Ayorech for their help with the initial phases of this work. Funding Information: We gratefully acknowledge the ongoing contribution of the participants in the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) and their families. TEDS is supported by a programme grant to RP and TCE?from the UK Medical Research Council (MR/V012878/1?and previously MR/M021475/1), with additional support from the US National Institutes of Health (AG046938). KR is supported by a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship. AG is supported by a Queen Mary School of Biological and Behavioural?Sciences PhD Fellowship awarded to MM. This study presents independent research [part-] funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King?s College London. We thank Emily Smith-Woolley and Ziada Ayorech for their help with the initial phases of this work. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).
Dates:	Published: 1 December 2021 Published (online): 1 October 2021 Accepted: 8 September 2021
Institution:	The University of York
Academic Units:	The University of York > Faculty of Social Sciences (York) > Education (York)
Depositing User:	Pure (York)
Date Deposited:	25 May 2022 08:40
Last Modified:	16 Oct 2024 18:27
Published Version:	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01300-0
Status:	Published
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1038/s41380-021-01300-0
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:187331

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Description: Pathfinder: a gamified measure to integrate general cognitive ability into the biological, medical, and behavioural sciences

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Pathfinder:a gamified measure to integrate general cognitive ability into the biological, medical, and behavioural sciences

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