Parent–offspring resemblance for specific cognitive abilities in two ethnic groups

DeFries, John C.; Ashton, G. C.; Johnson, Ronald C.; Kuse, A. R.; McClearn, Gerald E.; Mi, M. P.; Rashad, M. N.; Vandenberg, Steven G.; Wilson, James R.

doi:10.1038/261131a0

Cited by 120 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The significant relationship of gender and MRT scores was not unexpected, as it is well known throughout the literature that males have higher innate visual-spatial abilities than females (DeFries et al, 1976;Bouchard and McGee, 1977;McGee, 1979;Peters et al, 2006Peters et al, , 2007. However, it is interesting that female students are more proficient than male students on practical examinations considering females scored significantly lower than males on the MRT.…”

Section: Gender Effectsmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…The Vandenberg and Kuse version of the MRT has received considerable attention for revealing significant gender effects in which males perform better on the test than females (Vandenberg and Kuse, 1978;Linn and Petersen, 1985;Voyer et al, 1995;Peters, 2005;Peters and Battista, 2008). Additional factors such as age, sexual orientation, handedness, and genetics have all been linked to visual-spatial abilities, however, gender differences remain the strongest influence on MRT performance (DeFries et al, 1976;Bouchard and McGee, 1977;McGee, 1979;Peters et al, 2006Peters et al, , 2007. In the effort to identify environmental factors that affect visual-spatial ability, repeated testing has been shown to lead to increased scores (Baenninger and Newcombe, 1989); however, Peters et al (1995) found minimal improvements in performance on the MRT during a one month period when administered weekly.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Effect of visual–spatial ability on medical students' performance in a gross anatomy course

Lufler

Zumwalt

Romney

et al. 2011

Anatomical Sciences Ed

132

166

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The ability to mentally manipulate objects in three dimensions is essential to the practice of many clinical medical specialties. The relationship between this type of visual-spatial ability and performance in preclinical courses such as medical gross anatomy is poorly understood. This study determined if visual-spatial ability is associated with performance on practical examinations, and if students' visual-spatial ability improves during medical gross anatomy. Three hundred and fifty-two first-year medical students completed the Mental Rotations Test (MRT) before the gross anatomy course and 255 at its completion in 2008 and 2009. Hypotheses were tested using logistic regression analysis and Student's t-test. Compared with students in the lowest quartile of the MRT, students who scored in the highest quartile of the MRT were 2.2 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2 and 3.8] and 2.1 (95% CI 1.2 and 3.5) times more likely to score greater than 90% on practical examinations and on both practical and written examinations, respectively. MRT scores for males and females increased significantly (P < 0.0001). Measurement of students' pre-existing visual-spatial ability is predictive of performance in medical gross anatomy, and early intervention may be useful for students with low visual-spatial ability on entry to medical school. Participation in medical gross anatomy increases students' visual-spatial ability, although the mechanism for this phenomenon is unknown.

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Section: Gender Effectsmentioning

confidence: 67%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Effect of visual–spatial ability on medical students' performance in a gross anatomy course

Lufler

Zumwalt

Romney

et al. 2011

Anatomical Sciences Ed

132

166

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Some of the evidence based on intrafamilial correlations supports the X-linkage hypothesis of superior male spatial ability (Stafford, 1961 ;Hartlage, 1970;Bock and Kolakowski, 1973;Yen, 1975) while more recent work, including our own, does not (DeFries et al, 1976a(DeFries et al, , 1979Bouchard and McGee, 1977;Loehlin et al, 1978;Park et al, 1978;Jardine and Martin, 1983).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Spatial ability and throwing accuracy

Jardine

Martin

1983

Behav Genet

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“…One measure of intelligence was included, a shortened version of the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test (Raven, 1952) taken from the test battery of the Hawaii Family Study of Cognition (DeFries et al, 1976). The test requires one to find relations, make inferences, and develop hypotheses about which piece is missing from a pattern.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Models of spouse similarity: Applications to fluid ability measured in twins and their spouses

1996

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Genetic influences have consistently been reported to be the principal explanation for resemblance among relatives for intelligence, with shared environmental effects playing a much smaller role. However, crucial to understanding the nature of environmental influences are the mechanisms of assortative mating. Phenotypic assortment, albeit widely assumed or modeled in biometrical analyses, may be less important than other assortment processes, such as social homogamy. Consequently, effects of shared environment may play a greater role than prior studies have suggested. The goal of this study was to resolve environmental and genetic influences on fluid ability based on alternative models of assortment by examining the similarity of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins and their spouses. Raven's Progressive Matrices scores were available from a population-based Swedish sample of 138 twin kinships. The effects of both social homogamy and phenotypic assortment were tested simultaneously in each of two alternate assortment models. A factor/delta path model represented social homogamy as a common factor and phenotypic assortment as a delta path, while a delta/delta path model represented both social homogamy and phenotypic assortment as delta paths. Overall, the factor/delta path model was found to be superior. Results suggested that social homogamy completely explained spouse similarity; phenotypic assortment was not significant. The results of these analyses suggest the presence of shared environmental effects among twins and their spouses, which would have been underestimated if only phenotypic modeled phenotypic assortment may have underestimated the effects of environment.

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Parent–offspring resemblance for specific cognitive abilities in two ethnic groups

Cited by 120 publications

References 11 publications

Effect of visual–spatial ability on medical students' performance in a gross anatomy course

Effect of visual–spatial ability on medical students' performance in a gross anatomy course

Spatial ability and throwing accuracy

Models of spouse similarity: Applications to fluid ability measured in twins and their spouses

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