Wijsman Ellen M, Robinson Nancy M, Ainsworth Kathryn H, Rosenthal Elisabeth A, Holzman Ted, Raskind Wendy H
Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-7720, USA.
Behav Genet. 2004 Jan;34(1):51-62. doi: 10.1023/B:BEGE.0000009476.33020.b9.
Mathematical talent is an asset in modern society both at an individual and a societal level. Environmental factors such as quality of mathematics education undoubtedly affect an individual's performance, and there is some evidence that genetic factors also may play a role. The current study was performed to investigate the feasibility of undertaking genetics studies on mathematical ability. Because the etiology of low ability in mathematics is likely to be multifactorial and heterogeneous, we evaluated families ascertained through a proband with high mathematical performance in grade 7 on the SAT to eliminate, to some degree, adverse environmental factors. Families of sex-matched probands, selected for high verbal performance on the SAT, served as the comparison group. We evaluated a number of proxy measures for their usefulness in the study of clustering of mathematical talent. Given the difficulty of testing mathematics performance across developmental ages, especially with the added complexity of decreasing exposure to formal mathematics concepts post schooling, we also devised a semiquantitative scale that incorporated educational, occupational, and avocational information as a surrogate for an academic mathematics measure. Whereas several proxy measures showed no evidence of a genetic basis, we found that the semiquantitative scale of mathematical talent showed strong evidence of a genetic basis, with a differential response as a function of the performance measure used to select the proband. This observation suggests that there may be a genetic basis to specific mathematical talent, and that specific, as opposed to proxy, investigative measures that are designed to measure such talent in family members could be of benefit for this purpose.
数学天赋在现代社会中无论是对个人还是对社会层面而言都是一项资产。数学教育质量等环境因素无疑会影响个人表现，并且有一些证据表明遗传因素也可能起作用。本研究旨在探讨对数学能力进行遗传学研究的可行性。由于数学能力低下的病因可能是多因素且异质性的，我们通过在七年级SAT考试中数学成绩高的先证者来确定家庭，以在一定程度上消除不利的环境因素。选择在SAT考试中语言成绩高的性别匹配先证者的家庭作为对照组。我们评估了一些替代指标在数学天赋聚类研究中的有用性。鉴于跨发育年龄测试数学成绩存在困难，尤其是考虑到毕业后接触正规数学概念的机会减少所带来的额外复杂性，我们还设计了一个半定量量表，该量表纳入了教育、职业和业余爱好信息，作为学术数学测量的替代指标。虽然几个替代指标没有显示出遗传基础的证据，但我们发现数学天赋的半定量量表显示出很强的遗传基础证据，并且根据用于选择先证者的表现指标存在差异反应。这一观察结果表明，特定的数学天赋可能存在遗传基础，并且专门设计用于测量家庭成员中此类天赋的特定而非替代的调查措施可能对此目的有益。
