The study of genetic variants can help us understand the causes of differences in the cognitive functions of individuals that are determined by the environment but also have an important contribution from genetics.
Cognitive ability
Educational attainment appears to be genetically influenced and was the main subject of the first GWAS (genome-wide association study) applied to the social sciences that looked for which genes might be related to such cognitive ability.
Cognitive ability is fundamental to physical and mental well-being. Better cognitive function during youth is associated with a lower risk of psychiatric disorders and disease later in life. Conversely, there is evidence that some diseases can affect cognitive abilities in young people, thereby affecting their studies.
Number of observed variants
13.5 million variants
Number of loci analyzed
176 loci
Genes analyzed
ABT1
ADAMTSL3
AFF3
ANAPC4
ARHGAP15
ARID1B
ARPP21
ARRDC3
ARTN
ATXN7L2
AUTS2
BCL11A
BCL11B
CACNA1E
CADM2
CALN1
CCDC134
CDH8
CDH9
CENPC
CHORDC1
CHRAC1
CLCN2
CLNK
CLSTN2
CNTNAP4
COL11A1
CRYBA4
CSE1L
CYLD
CYSTM1
DAOA
DBN1
DDX18
DEPDC1
DHRS11
DLC1
DLL4
DNAJB6
DPP4
DPYD
EEA1
EFL1
ELAVL2
ERBB4
ERLIN1
FAM120AOS
FAM180B
FAM189A2
FAM76B
FBXL4
FGGY
FOXA2
FOXO3
FOXO6
FOXP1
FSIP2
GAD1
GALNT16
GALNT17
GALNT3
GATB
GPD2
GTDC1
HHLA2
HNRNPA1P48
HSD17B3
HYI
IER5L
IGDCC4
IGF2BP1
IGSF9B
IL20RB
ITGB7
KCNH7
KCNJ3
KLC1
LMCD1
LRFN5
LRGUK
LRPPRC
LRRC14
LRRC4
LRRTM3
LZTS1
MACIR
MAPK6
MBD2
MED27
MEF2C
MGAT3
MGST2
MKI67
MTSS2
NCAPG
NEGR1
NKIRAS1
NOL4L
NOVA1
NPAS3
NPY
NR2F1
NRBF2
OGA
OPN1SW
PALM
PAWR
PCDH17
PCGF3
PDE1C
PDE4D
PEF1
PKD1L3
PKDCC
PKHD1
PLEKHM1
POU3F2
PPP1R3C
PRKAG1
PRKD1
PRL
PSMG1
PTCH1
RAB11FIP5
RALYL
RBL2
RBM25
RPS23
RPS26
RRAS
RUNX1T1
RWDD3
SATB2
SEPTIN3
SH2B1
SHISA9
SHISAL2B
SLC27A3
SLC39A8
SLC5A11
SMIM4
SORCS3
SP4
SRPK2
STARD4
SYT7
TANC2
TECRL
TENM2
TET2
THSD7B
TMEM114
TMEM160
TMEM170B
TMEM245
TNIP2
TRAIP
TRIM37
TRIOBP
TSEN2
TSHZ3
TSNARE1
TTC27
TTLL7
USH2A
VRK2
WNT4
WRN
ZC3H12A
ZMIZ2
ZNF638
ZNF799
Bibliography
Lee J.J., Wedow R., et al. Gene discovery and polygenic prediction from a genome-wide association study of educational attainment in 1.1 million individuals. Nature Genetics, 23 Jul 2018, 50(8):1112-1121.
