Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums GT Research Genetic markers for non-verbal IQ?

I was reading Time Magazine's Joel Stein tonight. He and his wife along w/ baby boy donated spit to have their DNA tested.

"And while Cassandra's genetic marker for non-verbal IQ is three points higher than average, Laszlo and I are just normal."

Is there a confirmed genetic marker for non-verbal IQ?

Dazey

I call bull-feathers. Linking genes to behavior is a science that's in its infancy, and the popular media are notorious for over-playing it. (Also, the for-profit gene-testing companies.) Case in point, reporters insist on calling the FOXP-2 gene "the language gene," even though scientists keep trying to explain that it is no such thing.

I'm guessing Joel Stein is talking about the SNAP-25 gene. His claim that their genetic marker is "three points higher" is just incoherent. But a study on SNAP-25 and performance IQ showed that having a particular allele of the gene makes a difference of . . . three IQ points. (Actually, 2.84 IQ points, averaging over 665 people.)

[Dramatic brake-squealing sound] THREE IQ POINTS? Hardly a marker "for" non-verbal IQ.



Reference:

Gosso, de Geus, Belzen, Polderman, Heutink, Boomsma, & Posthuma (2006). The SNAP-25 gene is associated with cognitive ability: evidence from a family-based study in two independent Dutch cohorts. Molecular Psychiatry, vol. 11, pp. 878-886.

I don't know, my dd's palm reading kit claims that people with a lot of lines on their palms are "old souls" and may be wiser and more intelligent as a result. Since both dds and I have very lined up palms, I can go with that as a physical marker of IQ -- lol!

Yeah, that sounds like scifi to me as well. I do recall reading somewhere that the MRIs of people with higher IQs looked noticably different. I can't recall where that was, though, and I don't believe that they said anything about figuring IQ down to the point based on MRIs either.

I wasn't sure if he was being serious or being tongue in cheek.

Dazey