Behavior Genetics最新文献

{"title":"Geneticists' Understandings of Genetic Causation.","authors":"Hannah Allen, Bennett Knox, Stephen M Downes","doi":"10.1007/s10519-026-10264-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-026-10264-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper presents the preliminary results of a survey-based study investigating geneticists' understanding of genetic causation. We are motivated by an underlying assumption that to improve interpretation and implementation of behavioral genetics research, and furthermore for that research to have a positive societal impact, it is important to reveal how geneticists themselves understand their research. Results of sixty-two survey responses from clinical and research geneticists at the University of Utah are discussed and assessed to fulfill these aims and survey the landscape of the field. Analysis of our survey results revealed some variation in responses to questions about genetic causation from geneticists across different research areas.</p>","PeriodicalId":8715,"journal":{"name":"Behavior Genetics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148004095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Durable Lessons on Intelligence from Twin and Adoption Research.","authors":"Emily A Willoughby, Tobias Edwards, James J Lee","doi":"10.1007/s10519-026-10270-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-026-10270-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Matt McGue's research has made intelligence a model case for the explanatory reach of behavioral genetics. His early studies, conducted with Thomas Bouchard and other collaborators, on twins and other kinships demonstrated that cognitive ability is substantially heritable, and later analyses showed that this influence increases from childhood to adulthood and remains appreciable in late life, while shared environmental effects diminish. McGue and colleagues also extended twin and adoption methods to the study of educational attainment and social mobility, demonstrating that cognitive ability, noncognitive traits, and family background all contribute, and that higher education seems to benefit individuals across the ability spectrum. Because intelligence is uniquely scrutinized, the credibility of these findings depends on the soundness of the adoption design. A persistent critique is that adoption agencies engage in various forms of selection, leading to restriction of range in environmental quality and the confounding of genetic and environmental influences. McGue and colleagues addressed some of these concerns in their Minnesota studies, most notably showing that a correction for restriction of range did not appreciably alter the correlation between adoptive siblings in IQ. The present paper reviews McGue's accomplishments and reports new results about selective placement based on the correlations between parental phenotypes and the polygenic scores of their adopted offspring.</p>","PeriodicalId":8715,"journal":{"name":"Behavior Genetics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147969925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Preprint Problem: Fringe, Genetically Informed Studies of Group Differences in Behavior Housed on Open Science Platforms.","authors":"Evan J Giangrande","doi":"10.1007/s10519-026-10260-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10519-026-10260-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Preprint servers and open science platforms have revolutionized the scientific process. A fundamental feature of these platforms is a lack of peer review-virtually anyone with an internet connection can upload their research in a few clicks. Although this setup has facilitated rapid dissemination of results and open access to research, it has also enabled fringe researchers to post and share pseudoscientific, genetically informed studies of differences in behavior that often advance racial hereditarian and eugenic claims. Because preprint archives are now routinely used by mainstream academics, preprints grant a degree of legitimacy to fringe research that otherwise may have been relegated to a blog post or fringe publication. Previous studies have documented individual examples of pseudoscientific, genetic studies of group differences being posted on preprint archives, but the scope of this problem remains unclear, making it difficult to formulate responses and potential solutions. The present study quantified and characterized pseudoscientific studies of group differences in behavior-including studies that used genetic methods-housed on popular preprint servers and open science collaboration platforms. Dozens of such preprints were identified. Preprinted studies on group differences often analyzed controversial phenotypes, most frequently intelligence and related traits, and furthered classical, widely rejected hereditarian and eugenic theories. Genetically informed analyses rested on fundamentally flawed assumptions about heritability and polygenic scores. The Preprint Problem is indicative of a broader effort to weaponize mainstream academic research and its mechanisms, including Open Science, and a recent resurgence of scientific racism and eugenics. Potential responses to these challenges are introduced.</p>","PeriodicalId":8715,"journal":{"name":"Behavior Genetics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147947963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Honoring Matt McGue with a Novel Idiographic Behavior Genetics Design.","authors":"S Alexandra Burt","doi":"10.1007/s10519-026-10268-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-026-10268-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Matt is an unusually talented scholar, with seminal contributions in many areas (cognitive ability, environmental influences, substance use, etc.). One key theme that undergirds and unites his work is his development of novel research designs and experiments of nature capable of estimating causal inferences with unusual precision. In this contribution to his Festshrift, I illuminate key models and experiments developed by Matt and their contributions to the field. In lieu of new empirical data, I also present a new idiographic behavioral genetic research design - to be called 'narrative non-shared environmental identification' - in which we leverage idiographic, person-specific measurement tools to meaningfully study the effective non-shared environment for the first time.</p>","PeriodicalId":8715,"journal":{"name":"Behavior Genetics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147832975","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Insights into the Cross-Population Transferability of Polygenic Scores for Substance Use.","authors":"Gretchen R B Saunders, Scott Vrieze, Dajiang J Liu","doi":"10.1007/s10519-026-10265-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10519-026-10265-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Polygenic scores have potential for predicting health outcomes based on genomic data. However, their portability across diverse populations is hindered by the overrepresentation of European ancestries in discovery genome-wide association (GWAS) studies. The current study evaluated the transferability of substance use polygenic scores across European, African, American, and East Asian populations. European-based scores demonstrated reduced predictive accuracy in non-European populations with mean relative accuracies of 36% in American, 22.5% in East Asian, and 3.8% in African ancestries. Beyond discrete genetic ancestry groups, we found that European-based score prediction declined as a function of genetic distance from the European-stratified GWAS. That is, predictive accuracy declines as genetic distance, derived from continuous measures of ancestry, from the discovery GWAS increases. We evaluated the extent to which differences across populations in linkage disequilibrium (LD), allele frequency, and heritability explained the reduction in accuracy. Across phenotypes we found that approximately 56.0% of accuracy decline in American ancestries was explained by LD and allele frequency differences, with differences in LD appearing to be the primary factor. For East Asian ancestries this was 67.1% and was 84.0% in African ancestries. Differences across populations in heritability accounted for only small portions of reduced polygenic score transferability. This suggests that LD and frequency differences explain significant portions of accuracy loss, but substantial reductions persist, suggesting contributions from other factors like causal effect size differences. The current study provides important information on the causes and extent of the polygenic score transferability problem and has important implications for refinement of polygenic scores. Expanding the diversity of GWAS and target samples remains essential for improving accuracy and equity in prediction.</p>","PeriodicalId":8715,"journal":{"name":"Behavior Genetics","volume":" ","pages":"119-130"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13201358/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147760828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sex Differences in Genetic and Environmental Influences on Age at Initiation of Gaming.","authors":"Yubin Kim, Yoon-Mi Hur","doi":"10.1007/s10519-026-10252-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10519-026-10252-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The link between age at initiation of gaming (AAIG) and gaming addiction (GA) is well established, but the genetic and environmental etiology of AAIG remains poorly understood due to the scarcity of genetically informative studies. This study investigated genetic and environmental influences on AAIG using data from 1,394 South Korean adult twins (mean age = 23.0 ± 2.6 years; range = 19 to 30 years). Tetrachoric correlations for AAIG were 0.96 (95% CI = 0.92, 0.98) for monozygotic (MZ) male, 0.84 (95% CI = 0.69, 0.92) for dizygotic (DZ) male, 0.80 (95% CI = 0.73, 0.85) for MZ female, 0.56 (95% CI = 0.38, 0.70) for DZ female, and 0.54 (95% CI = 0.36, 0.68) for opposite-sex DZ twins. Model-fitting analysis incorporating sex differences revealed that shared environmental factors dominated (71%; 95% CI = 39%, 89%), with a smaller but significant genetic component (24%; 95% CI = 6%, 57%) in males, whereas genetic factors played a larger role (59%; 95% CI = 37%, 77%), while shared environmental (21%; 95% CI = 5%, 41%) and non-shared environmental influences (20%; 95% CI = 15%, 27%) were also significant in females. Our findings highlight sex differences in genetic and shared environmental influences in the etiology of AAIG. Effective prevention and intervention strategies for GA should consider genetic vulnerability to AAIG and family exposures, incorporating sex-specific approaches.</p>","PeriodicalId":8715,"journal":{"name":"Behavior Genetics","volume":" ","pages":"111-118"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146131155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"No Evidence of Genetic Basis to Variation in Human Offspring Sex Ratio.","authors":"Kaitlyn T Harper, Ralf Kuja-Halkola, Karin J H Verweij, Patrik K E Magnusson, Brendan P Zietsch","doi":"10.1007/s10519-026-10266-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10519-026-10266-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Fisher's principle proposes that the population sex ratio remains approximately equal (around 1:1) through a process of negative frequency-dependent selection. However, large-scale studies show that human offspring sex ratio (OSR) is not heritable in humans, raising doubts about whether Fisher's principle is a valid explanatory framework for human OSR evolution. Song and Zhang recently proposed a mechanism where OSR propensity is genetically influenced but produces an OSR phenotype with negligible observable heritability due to probabilistic sex determination and small family sizes. Here, we conducted an evaluation of this proposal by simulating the proposed mechanism under a broader range of assumptions, revealing that it only produces undetectable OSR heritability under a specific set of parameters. We further explored whether Fisher's principle could operate under such low OSR heritability and found, by reanalysing simulation outcomes, that there is only a very narrow parameter space where Fisher's principle operated and OSR heritability was realistically low. We also make multiple corrections to Song and Zhang's original analyses which weaken their claim. In sum, our assessment is that evidence for a genetic mechanism that yields undetectable OSR heritability, but allows the operation of Fisher's Principle, is weak. The proposed mechanism lacks sufficient evidence to overturn the simpler conclusion that OSR is not heritable in humans, and consequently that Fisher's principle is not a valid explanatory framework for human OSR.</p>","PeriodicalId":8715,"journal":{"name":"Behavior Genetics","volume":" ","pages":"131-137"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13201330/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147833106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Early-Life Psychological Stress Impairs Spatial Learning and Memory in Rats by Altering the Hippocampal Proteome.","authors":"Lin Han, Xiaofan Xiong, Meiyang Fan, Lingyu Zhang, Shanfeng Gao, Rufeng Li, Xiaofei Wang, Xuan Xiao, Chen Huang, Juan Yang","doi":"10.1007/s10519-026-10269-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10519-026-10269-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Early-life stress has been linked to anxiety, pessimism, and cognitive decline, all of which can have detrimental effects on individuals. One critical structure impacted by early-life stress is the hippocampus, which plays a vital role in regulating learning and memory functions. This study aims to elucidate the molecular mechanisms through which early-life psychological stress (ELPS) affects the learning and memory capabilities of the hippocampus in rats. In this study, ELPS model was applied on juvenile rats for 14 days. To evaluate the spatial learning and memory abilities of rats, the Morris Water Maze (MWM) test was adopted in this study. This study employed two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) and ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatographic-electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS) techniques to reveal the proteomic map of the rat hippocampus. Subsequently, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis and direct protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction were performed to identify the biological pathways associated with the differentially expressed proteins (DEPs). ELPS treatment induced age-dependent spatial cognitive deficits. In juvenile rats, ELPS caused mild impairments in spatial learning, as reflected by increased escape latency during specific training days, but did not affect spatial memory. In contrast, adult rats exhibited significant and robust impairments in both spatial learning and spatial memory, with longer escape latency across training days, fewer platform crossings, and reduced time and distance in the target quadrant. These findings demonstrate that ELPS-induced cognitive dysfunction is far more pronounced in adult animals, representing persistent and progressive spatial learning and memory deficits. After therapy, 71 proteins were found in the hippocampal region, including 10 DEPs across the juvenile and adult groups post-treatment. Subsequent pathway analysis indicated the involvement of 4 DEPs in various pathways, including Biosynthesis of amino acids, Prion disease, HIF-1 signaling pathway, Distal axon, Alzheimer disease, and Necroptosis pathways. Our study revealed significant proteomic changes in the hippocampus of rats as they transitioned from juveniles to adults, including 10 consistently differentially expressed proteins. These proteomic alterations correspond to the age-dependent spatial cognitive deficits induced by ELPS-mild spatial learning impairment in juveniles and more pronounced deficits in both spatial learning and memory in adults-collectively supporting the lasting effects of ELPS on spatial cognitive function.</p>","PeriodicalId":8715,"journal":{"name":"Behavior Genetics","volume":" ","pages":"138-152"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147961939","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"No Argument with Biology? The Effects of Genetic Explanations for Socioeconomic Outcomes on American and Swedish Citizens' Attitudes Towards Government Intervention.","authors":"Oskar Pettersson","doi":"10.1007/s10519-026-10258-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-026-10258-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>For half a century, scholars have debated the societal implications of research that suggests genetic explanations for socioeconomic disparities. However, studies of whether and how such genetic explanations affect the attitudes of citizens are surprisingly limited. Using two identical, pre-registered survey experiments fielded in the United States (N=2003) and Sweden (N=2005), this study tests whether a short, twin study-based genetic explanation for income and education differences leads to citizens adopting a lower perceived possibility, as well as a lower perceived fairness, of the government reducing socioeconomic differences. The results do not provide systematic evidence to this effect. Rather, there are indications that citizens increase their belief in the effectiveness, as well as in the fairness of government intervention. Most clearly, the treatment increased citizens' support for a set of redistributive policy proposals, particularly in Sweden. Overall, however, the treatment effects appear to have been limited. This is likely attributable to the experimental manipulation being inadequate in magnitude. This study suggests that genetic explanations for socioeconomic differences do not necessarily have to cause a naturalization of inequality among citizens, but further research on this important topic is needed.</p>","PeriodicalId":8715,"journal":{"name":"Behavior Genetics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147389072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sociability is a Multidimensional Trait in Drosophila melanogaster.","authors":"Tiphaine P M Bailly, Sanne J C Lamers, Adithya Sarma, Anne C M Jansen, Koen Freerks, Michael van Dijk, Rampal S Etienne, Bregje Wertheim, Jean-Christophe Billeter","doi":"10.1007/s10519-026-10261-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10519-026-10261-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sociability-the propensity of an individual to engage in group activities-is a trait present in all social species. In humans and many animals, sociability varies between individuals yet remains consistent across contexts, qualifying it as a personality trait. Sociability influences health and physiology, but the mechanisms underlying sociability and its inter-individual variation remain poorly understood. The genetically tractable fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is increasingly used to study social behavior and exhibits a wide range of sociability phenotypes. However, previous studies have relied on distinct behavioral paradigms, limiting cross-context comparisons and motivating a more extensive characterization of sociability in this species. Here, we quantified sociability in D. melanogaster using a multidimensional approach encompassing three paradigms that capture engagement in group activities across contexts: (1) preference for communal versus solitary egg-laying, (2) egg-laying latency in a group, and (3) frequency and duration of spontaneous social interactions and interindividual distance. We assessed these behaviors in 105 lines of the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel and observed substantial variation in responses to conspecific presence across paradigms. Sociability-related behaviors differed between genetically distinct lines, indicating a genetic component. However, the three sociability traits were uncorrelated, demonstrating that sociability in D. melanogaster is multidimensional. These findings suggest that sociability is not governed by a single central mechanism, but instead arises from multiple context-dependent pathways.</p>","PeriodicalId":8715,"journal":{"name":"Behavior Genetics","volume":" ","pages":"49-65"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13132903/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147608077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}