Phenotypic and genetic evidence for a unifactorial structure of spatial abilities

Abstract

Spatial abilities encompass several skills differentiable from general cognitive ability (). Importantly, spatial abilities have been shown to be significant predictors of many life outcomes, even after controlling for To date, no studies have analyzed the genetic architecture of diverse spatial abilities using a multivariate approach. We developed "gamified" measures of diverse putative spatial abilities. The battery of 10 tests was administered online to 1,367 twin pairs (age 19-21) from the UK-representative Twins Early Development Study (TEDS). We show that spatial abilities constitute a single factor, both phenotypically and genetically, even after controlling for This spatial ability factor is highly heritable (69%). We draw three conclusions: () The high heritability of spatial ability makes it a good target for gene-hunting research; () some genes will be specific to spatial ability, independent of ; and () these genes will be associated with all components of spatial ability.

Evidence for a unitary structure of spatial cognition beyond general intelligence

“…We investigated the structure of spatial ability across a greater diversity of spatial tests. To this end, we 201 extended our analyses beyond the six tests of spatial orientation to incorporate 10 additional tests of object-202 based spatial skills 18 . This additional battery of spatial tasks included measures that very closely align with 203 traditional psychometric tests of spatial ability, including mental rotation, visualization, 2D and 3D drawing 204 ability, and mechanical reasoning.…”

“…In our previous work on the factor structure of object-based spatial tests, we have shown that individual 84 differences in spatial abilities cluster into a unitary factor, at both the observed and genetic levels, even after 85 accounting for g. 18 Along the same lines, another study found that the association between object-based and 86 spatial orientation abilities was largely independent of verbal ability. 15 These studies suggest that the coherence 87 of spatial abilities is not simply due to their being part of g, but rather inherent in the spatial domain itself.…”

“…More broadly, evidence concerning the nature and factor structure of spatial ability 37 remains mixed, with most studies focusing on differentiating between relatively few measures rather than 38 examining the communalities across a broad range of spatial skills. 7,10,16,17 In our previous work, 18 we have 39…”

“…shown that a general factor of spatial ability captures a substantial proportion of variance across numerous tests 40 of spatial skills, and that communalities across tests are largely explained by shared genetic variance. 18 41 However, one major limitation characterized our previous study: Although we considered ten object-based 42 spatial abilities, including tests of rotation, visualization and scanning abilities, we did not include measures of 43 spatial orientation, such as navigation, map reading and way-finding. 44…”

Evaluation Of Nosql Dbms Scalability For Storing Data For Psychology Web Platform

“…There are still some areas of research where traditional pen-and-paper approach may be more suitable (e.g. in some clinical populations or in rural areas where it is hard to get access to internet or even computer), but in general computer-based methods has proven to be adequate to such fields as behavioral genetics (Ismatullina & Voronin, 2017;Voronin, Ismatullina, Zaharov, & Malykh, 2016;Zakharov, Ismatullina, & Voronin, 2016;Rimfeld, et al, 2017), neuropsychology (Luciana, 2003), developmental psychology (Tikhomirova & Malykh, 2016), cross-cultural studies (Verbitskaya, Zinchenko, Malykh, & Tikhomirova, 2017) and others. Advantages of the computer-based tools include more convenient way to organize and store databases, standardized test administration or automated response recording.…”