General cognitive ability (g) accounts for 55% of the genetic variance in spatial ability, leaving 45% independent of g¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r3 · q3
Currency · newest study 2020 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? A Cholesky decomposition showed g accounted for 55% of the genetic variance in the common spatial ability factor, leaving 45% independent of g; no standardised effect size was printed, so magnitude is uncoded. → Malanchini 2020

Evidence¶

Malanchini 2020¶

Malanchini, M., Rimfeld, K., Shakeshaft, N. G., McMillan, A., Schofield, K. L., Rodic, M., Rossi, V., Kovas, Y., Dale, P. S., Tucker-Drob, E. M. & Plomin, R. (2020). Evidence for a unitary structure of spatial cognition beyond general intelligence. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-020-0067-8

q3 · i? · associational · r3

Cholesky decomposition relating g (aggregated verbal and nonverbal tests from ages 7–16, excluding spatial tests) to the spatial ability factor in TEDS. "g accounted for 55% of the genetic variance" in the common spatial factor, leaving 45% independent of g.

"The results presented in Fig. 7 (see Supplementary Fig. 5 for the full model) showed that g accounted for 55% of the genetic variance in the second-order common spatial ability factor. In other words, 45% of the genetic variance in spatial ability was independent of g."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The general Spatial Ability factor is 84% heritable, with shared genetic variance underlying clustering across all sixteen tests and no meaningful shared environmental contribution — a broader claim this one bears on