Abstract
Four paper-and-pencil spatial tests, measuring two- and three-dimensional spatial visualization and spatial orientation, were administered to 2508 Caucasian high-school studients. Sibling correlations and within-sex score distributions were examined for the influence of a major sex-linked gene. Sex-linked influences were most clear on the test of two-dimensional visualization and on an average of the standard scores on all the tests. For those tests best fitting the genetic model, estimates of the frequency of the recessive gene (contributing to good performance) were near 0.45. There was evidence of sex limitation and a small amount of assortative mating, but no evidence of incomplete dominance in females. Environmental or non-sex-linked genetic factors influenced spatial performance but did not systematically improve performance with age.
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Major portions of this research were completed when the author was a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, California.
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Yen, W.M. Sex-linked major-gene influences on selected types of spatial performance. Behav Genet 5, 281–298 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01066180
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01066180