Can intelligence be inherited?

CAN INTELLIGENCE BE INHERITED?

Is intelligence something we inherit? And if so, how is this fortune calculated? In the past, scientists argued that intelligence is inherited , and for this they were often criticized, if not mocked, by skeptics who didn't believe in the genetic basis of our gray matter. Geneticists have struggled to prove this to be the case. Since the mid-90s, researchers have focused on fifty genes , considered good candidates for being the repositories of our intellectual faculties.

HOW INTELLIGENCE IS CALCULATED

Until a few years ago, however, the results were disappointing for several reasons, as were the conclusions reached by many laboratories. After the discovery of DNA and all its variants (at least 10)—which together contribute to making certain individuals particularly intelligent—the genes analyzed by researchers were very little material to base their findings on.

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TEST TO CALCULATE INTELLIGENCE

To find a solution, all that remained was to study many more people than had been studied up until 2017. Another complication was two variables: the age and type of schooling , which influenced a given individual's intellectual abilities and which in turn seemed to depend on genes. Meanwhile, other studies on identical twins were being conducted in Australia, the Netherlands, England, and the United States , which demonstrated that 40-60% of intelligence is inherited.

An idea was needed, so the scientists analyzed the genome of a million people and then established for each of them a certain index, “ GPS ” (Genome wide polygenic score), which combined thousands of DNA variants, wherever they were found in the genome, with education.

Since it is impossible to use the so-called intelligence quotient in a million people, the researchers used the years of school, which can be obtained more easily by obtaining for each individual the “DNA of intelligence" or "Iq GPS” which does not change over time and is not influenced by external circumstances, such as for exampleanxiety performance, when someone undergoes a intelligence test. Ultimately, the results of this enormous effort have demonstrated that “you are indeed born intelligent, but only a little.”

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THE METHOD TO FIND OUT HOW MUCH INTELLIGENCE YOU HAVE INHERITED

Neuroscientist Robert Plomin and economist Sophie von Stumn , of King's College London and the London School of Economics and Political Science, respectively , are the authors of a publication in the journal Nature Reviews Genetics that concerns the heritability of intelligence. The two scholars have demonstrated that, although intelligence genes can be inherited (at least in part), their function is strongly linked to conditioning, particularly that of the environment and family . The people one associates with also have an impact, as does the very organization of the society in which one is born and raised.

Soon, each of us will be able to measure our " intelligence genetics " or "GPS IQ," and it will cost only a hundred euros (and even less in a few years). Genetics provides probabilities but no certainties, and there are many doubts about how we will use this information in school evaluations or hiring decisions . Those with a low "GPS IQ" will still be able to reach the same goals as those with higher IQs, even if it will sometimes require a great deal of effort.

It will therefore be up to us to make the best use of the information that will emerge from the study of DNA, for the genes of intelligence and those that predispose to certain diseases , for example, or to alcohol and drug abuse . Finally, scientists certainly won't be the ones to decide who will have access to the data that will be available to each of us from time to time, on so many different occasions, but very soon someone will have to do so, and with great responsibility.

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