Brain structure mediates the association between height and cognitive ability

Vuoksimaa, Eero; Panizzon, Matthew S.; Franz, Carol E.; Fennema-Notestine, Christine; Hagler, Donald J.; Lyons, Michael J.; Dale, Anders M.; Kremen, William S.

doi:10.1007/s00429-018-1675-4

Cited by 22 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 57 publications

(96 reference statements)

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“…In humans, there are many genetic correlations between height and psychiatric, behavioral and personality traits, including neuroticism 55 , risk tolerance 56 and smoking cessation 57 . There is also strong evidence that body size is associated with differences in brain structure in humans and dogs, and that those have functional effects (most commonly reported in the area of cognition) 11,58 . Both Insulin/IGF signaling and downstream pathways (here incl.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic testing of dogs predicts problem behaviors in clinical and nonclinical samples

Zapata

Lilly

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Very little is known about the etiology of personality and psychiatric disorders. Because the core neurobiology of many such traits is evolutionarily conserved, dogs present a powerful model. We previously reported genome scans of breed averages of ten traits related to fear, anxiety, aggression and social behavior in multiple cohorts of pedigree dogs. As a second phase of that discovery, here we tested the ability of markers at 13 of those loci to predict canine behavior in a community sample of 397 pedigree and mixed-breed dogs with individual-level genotype and phenotype data. We found support for all markers and loci. By including 122 dogs with veterinary behavioral diagnoses in our cohort, we were able to identify eight loci associated with those diagnoses. Logistic regression models showed subsets of those loci could predict behavioral diagnoses. We corroborated our previous findings that small body size is associated with many problem behaviors and large body size is associated with increased trainability. Children in the home were associated with anxiety traits; illness and other animals in the home with coprophagia; working-dog status with increased energy and separation-related problems; and competitive dogs with increased aggression directed at familiar dogs, but reduced fear directed at humans and unfamiliar dogs. Compared to other dogs, Pit Bull-type dogs were not defined by a set of our markers and were not more aggressive; but they were strongly associated with pulling on the leash. Using severity-threshold models, Pit Bull-type dogs showed reduced risk of owner-directed aggression (75th quantile) and increased risk of dog-directed fear (95th quantile). Our findings have broad utility, including for clinical and breeding purposes, but we caution that thorough understanding is necessary for their interpretation and use.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic testing of dogs predicts problem behaviors in clinical and nonclinical samples

Zapata

Lilly

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…We also report a significant positive association between MO in the medial lemniscus and height. However, although previous studies have similarly identified a positive link between height and intact WM integrity [99], we also consider alternative interpretations that may have produced similar findings. Namely, as described in the case of [93], the observed co-localized increases in MO and FA in the medial lemniscus may indicate evidence of selective degeneration of secondary WM tracts which result in the “spared” fibers of this sub-region establishing a newly acclaimed primary eigenvector, and with it a misleading increase in both FA and MO [40].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Discovering markers of healthy aging: a prospective study in a Danish male birth cohort

Zarnani

Nichols

Alfaro-Almagro

et al. 2019

Aging

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There is a pressing need to identify markers of cognitive and neural decline in healthy late-midlife participants. We explored the relationship between cross-sectional structural brain-imaging derived phenotypes (IDPs) and cognitive ability, demographic, health and lifestyle factors (non-IDPs). Participants were recruited from the 1953 Danish Male Birth Cohort (N=193). Applying an extreme group design, members were selected in 2 groups based on cognitive change between IQ at age ~20y (IQ-20) and age ~57y (IQ-57). Subjects showing the highest (n=95) and lowest (n=98) change were selected (at age ~57) for assessments on multiple IDPs and non-IDPs. We investigated the relationship between 453 IDPs and 70 non-IDPs through pairwise correlation and multivariate canonical correlation analysis (CCA) models. Significant pairwise associations included positive associations between IQ-20 and gray-matter volume of the temporal pole. CCA identified a richer pattern - a single “positive-negative” mode of population co-variation coupling individual cross-subject variations in IDPs to an extensive range of non-IDP measures (r = 0.75, Pcorrected < 0.01). Specifically, this mode linked higher cognitive performance, positive early-life social factors, and mental health to a larger brain volume of several brain structures, overall volume, and microstructural properties of some white matter tracts. Interestingly, both statistical models identified IQ-20 and gray-matter volume of the temporal pole as important contributors to the inter-individual variation observed. The converging patterns provide novel insight into the importance of early adulthood intelligence as a significant marker of late-midlife neural decline and motivates additional study.

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“…In humans, there are many genetic correlations between height and psychiatric, behavioral and personality traits, including neuroticism [ 59 ], risk tolerance [ 60 ] and smoking cessation [ 61 ]. There is also strong evidence that body size is associated with differences in brain structure in humans and dogs, and that those have functional effects (most commonly reported in the area of cognition) [ 11 , 62 ]. Both Insulin/IGF signaling and downstream pathways (here incl.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic testing of dogs predicts problem behaviors in clinical and nonclinical samples

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Very little is known about the etiology of personality and psychiatric disorders. Because the core neurobiology of many such traits is evolutionarily conserved, dogs present a powerful model. We previously reported genome scans of breed averages of ten traits related to fear, anxiety, aggression and social behavior in multiple cohorts of pedigree dogs. As a second phase of that discovery, here we tested the ability of markers at 13 of those loci to predict canine behavior in a community sample of 397 pedigree and mixed-breed dogs with individual-level genotype and phenotype data. Results We found support for all markers and loci. By including 122 dogs with veterinary behavioral diagnoses in our cohort, we were able to identify eight loci associated with those diagnoses. Logistic regression models showed subsets of those loci could predict behavioral diagnoses. We corroborated our previous findings that small body size is associated with many problem behaviors and large body size is associated with increased trainability. Children in the home were associated with anxiety traits; illness and other animals in the home with coprophagia; working-dog status with increased energy and separation-related problems; and competitive dogs with increased aggression directed at familiar dogs, but reduced fear directed at humans and unfamiliar dogs. Compared to other dogs, Pit Bull-type dogs were not defined by a set of our markers and were not more aggressive; but they were strongly associated with pulling on the leash. Using severity-threshold models, Pit Bull-type dogs showed reduced risk of owner-directed aggression (75th quantile) and increased risk of dog-directed fear (95th quantile). Conclusions Our association analysis in a community sample of pedigree and mixed-breed dogs supports the interbreed mapping. The modeling shows some markers are predictive of behavioral diagnoses. Our findings have broad utility, including for clinical and breeding purposes, but we caution that thorough understanding is necessary for their interpretation and use.

show abstract

Brain structure mediates the association between height and cognitive ability

Cited by 22 publications

References 57 publications

Genetic testing of dogs predicts problem behaviors in clinical and nonclinical samples

Genetic testing of dogs predicts problem behaviors in clinical and nonclinical samples

Discovering markers of healthy aging: a prospective study in a Danish male birth cohort

Genetic testing of dogs predicts problem behaviors in clinical and nonclinical samples

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