Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24611582›Full record

SynthesisPsychological bulletin2014

Continuity of genetic and environmental influences on cognition across the life span: a meta-analysis of longitudinal twin and adoption studies.

Elliot M Tucker-Drob, Daniel A Briley

Abstract readMeta-AnalysisTwin Study
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Psychological bulletin, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 107 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
107citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

107 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. The association between perinatal depressive symptoms and child neurodevelopment.American journal of obstetrics & gynecology MFM · 2024
    Trial
  4. Foster care leads to sustained cognitive gains following severe early deprivation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022
    Trial
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  15. Associations between social media and crystallized and fluid performance trajectories in early adolescence.Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence · 2025
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  19. Stability of general cognitive ability from infancy to adulthood: A combined twin and genomic investigation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  20. Article

47 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Elliot M Tucker-DrobDepartment of Psychology.
Daniel A BrileyDepartment of Psychology.

Funding

Population Research CenterR24HD042849 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AUSTIN · PI HAYWARD, MARK D. · 2002 to 2016
$8.4M
Training Program in Population StudiesT32HD007081 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AUSTIN · PI Aprile Dawn Benner, Abigail Mae Weitzman · 1985 to 2026
$6.8M
Gene-Environment Interplay in Early Cognitive DevelopmentR21HD069772 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN · PI TUCKER-DROB, ELLIOT MAX · 2011 to 2012
$407k
NICHD NIH HHS R21 HD069772NICHD NIH HHS R21HD069772NICHD NIH HHS R24 HD042849NICHD NIH HHS R24HD042849NICHD NIH HHS T32 HD007081NICHD NIH HHS T32HD007081
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The longitudinal rank-order stability of cognitive ability increases dramatically over the life span. Theoretical perspectives differ in their emphasis on genetic mechanisms in explaining the longitudinal stability of cognition and how stability changes with development. However, the patterns of stability of genetic and environmental influences on cognition over the life span remain poorly understood. We searched for longitudinal studies of cognition that reported raw genetically informative longitudinal correlations or parameter estimates from longitudinal behavior genetic models. We identified 150 combinations of time points and measures from 15 independent longitudinal samples. In total, longitudinal data came from 4,548 monozygotic twin pairs raised together, 7,777 dizygotic twin pairs raised together, 34 monozygotic twin pairs raised apart, 78 dizygotic twin pairs raised apart, 141 adoptive sibling pairs, and 143 nonadoptive sibling pairs, ranging in age from infancy through late adulthood. At all ages, cross-time genetic correlations and shared environmental correlations were substantially larger than cross-time nonshared environmental correlations. Cross-time correlations for genetic and shared environmental components were, respectively, low and moderate during early childhood, increased sharply over child development, and remained high from adolescence through late adulthood. Cross-time correlations for nonshared environmental components were low across childhood and gradually increased to moderate magnitudes in adulthood. Increasing phenotypic stability over child development was almost entirely mediated by genetic factors. Time-based decay of genetic and shared environmental stability was more pronounced earlier in child development. Results are interpreted in reference to theories of gene-environment correlation and interaction.

Indexed as

CognitionHuman DevelopmentSocial EnvironmentAdolescentAdoptionAdultAge FactorsChildChild, PreschoolHumansInfantLongitudinal StudiesMiddle AgedSiblingsTwinsYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID24611582
PMCPMC4069230

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.