Genes Influence Young Children's Human Figure Drawings and Their Association With Intelligence a Decade Later

TY - JOUR

T1 - Genes Influence Young Children's Human Figure Drawings and Their Association With Intelligence a Decade Later

AU - Arden, Rosalind

AU - Trzaskowski, Maciej

AU - Garfield, Victoria

AU - Plomin, Robert

PY - 2014/10

Y1 - 2014/10

N2 - Drawing is ancient; it is the only childhood cognitive behavior for which there is any direct evidence from the Upper Paleolithic. Do genes influence individual differences in this species-typical behavior, and is drawing related to intelligence (g) in modern children? We report on the first genetically informative study of children’s figure drawing. In a study of 7,752 pairs of twins, we found that genetic differences exert a greater influence on children’s figure drawing at age 4 than do between-family environmental differences. Figure drawing was as heritable as g at age 4 (heritability of .29 for both). Drawing scores at age 4 correlated significantly with g at age 4 (r = .33, p < .001, n = 14,050) and with g at age 14 (r = .20, p < .001, n = 4,622). The genetic correlation between drawing at age 4 and g at age 14 was .52, 95% confidence interval = [.31, .75]. Individual differences in this widespread behavior have an important genetic component and a significant genetic link with g.

AB - Drawing is ancient; it is the only childhood cognitive behavior for which there is any direct evidence from the Upper Paleolithic. Do genes influence individual differences in this species-typical behavior, and is drawing related to intelligence (g) in modern children? We report on the first genetically informative study of children’s figure drawing. In a study of 7,752 pairs of twins, we found that genetic differences exert a greater influence on children’s figure drawing at age 4 than do between-family environmental differences. Figure drawing was as heritable as g at age 4 (heritability of .29 for both). Drawing scores at age 4 correlated significantly with g at age 4 (r = .33, p < .001, n = 14,050) and with g at age 14 (r = .20, p < .001, n = 4,622). The genetic correlation between drawing at age 4 and g at age 14 was .52, 95% confidence interval = [.31, .75]. Individual differences in this widespread behavior have an important genetic component and a significant genetic link with g.

KW - Cognitive ability

KW - Cognition(s)

KW - Creativity

U2 - 10.1177/0956797614540686

DO - 10.1177/0956797614540686

M3 - Article

C2 - 25143430

SN - 0956-7976

VL - 25

SP - 1843

EP - 1850

JO - Psychological Science

JF - Psychological Science

IS - 10

ER -