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No Association Between General Cognitive Ability and the A1 Allele of the D2 Dopamine Receptor Gene

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Abstract

Berman and Noble (1995) reported significantly reduced visuospatial performance in children with the TAQI A1 allele of the D2 dopamine receptor (DRD2) gene. Given that visuospatial performance loads highly on an unrotated principal component indexing general cognitive ability, we tested the association between DRJD2 and WISC-R IQ comparing 51 high-IQ, 51 average-IQ, and 35 low-IQ children in the IQ Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) Project. No statistically significant association between the TAQI A DRD2 alleles and IQ was found. Given that a statistically significant portion of genetic variance for specific cognitive abilities is independent of general cognitive ability, it is possible that the TAQI DRD2 association is specific to visuospatial performance and independent of general cognitive ability.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychiatry, London, England

    Stephen A. Petrill & Robert Plomin

  2. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania

    Gerald E. McClearn, Deborah L. Smith & Sylvia Vignetti

  3. Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania

    Michael J. Chorney & Karen Chorney

  4. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

    Lee A. Thompson & Douglas K. Detterman

  5. Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

    Camilla Benbow & David Lubinski

  6. University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, Wales

    Joanna Daniels & Michael Owen

Authors
  1. Stephen A. Petrill
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  2. Robert Plomin
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  3. Gerald E. McClearn
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  4. Deborah L. Smith
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  5. Sylvia Vignetti
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  6. Michael J. Chorney
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  7. Karen Chorney
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  8. Lee A. Thompson
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  9. Douglas K. Detterman
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  10. Camilla Benbow
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  11. David Lubinski
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  12. Joanna Daniels
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  13. Michael Owen
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  14. Peter McGuffin
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Petrill, S.A., Plomin, R., McClearn, G.E. et al. No Association Between General Cognitive Ability and the A1 Allele of the D2 Dopamine Receptor Gene. Behav Genet 27, 29–31 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025659124405

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025659124405

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