A polygenic-score study of learning over 100 days of practice in 131 adults was too small to draw meaningful conclusions about genetic effects on baseline performance and learning¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · theoretical r3 · q1
Currency · newest study 2022 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q1 i? The COGITO-based study by Youn et al. used 9 cognitive tests in 131 adults with DNA samples, but the sample was too small to draw meaningful conclusions about genetic effects on learning. → Peter M. Visscher 2022

Evidence¶

Peter M. Visscher 2022¶

Peter M. Visscher. (2022). Genetics of cognitive performance, education and learning: from research to policy? npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-022-00124-z

q1 · i? · theoretical · r3

The commentary describes the study's novel design: adults in the COGITO study, measured at baseline and repeatedly over 100 days at individualised difficulty levels, with 9 cognitive tests in a sample of 131 adults who also had DNA samples for PGS measurement. It states the study "was too small to draw any meaningful conclusions".

"The authors used 9 cognitive tests in a sample of 131 adults from whom they also had a DNA sample and therefore could measure their PGS for educational attainment"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Adults improve on average across nine cognitive tasks over 100 days of practice, with substantial individual differences in the amount of improvement — related
• Educational-attainment polygenic score associations with pre-test, post-test, and pre-to-post change scores on individual cognitive tasks are small and mostly nonsignificant after multiple-testing correction — related
• Correlations between baseline scores and practice performance follow task-specific qualitative trajectories (upward, downward, or constant) that do not cluster by cognitive ability domain — related
• Growth models show substantial variability in the shape and rate of learning, but no statistically significant EAPGS associations with that variation — related
• In latent difference score models of ability domains, nearly all PGS-to-change pathways are small and nonsignificant, while age consistently predicts pre-test level and change — related
• Extreme-PGS subgroups show mostly parallel learning trajectories, with task exceptions: for N-Back the low-PGS group learned more and ultimately performed better than the high-PGS group — related