Plomin Robert, Kovas Yulia
Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Psychol Bull. 2005 Jul;131(4):592-617. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.131.4.592.
The authors reviewed recent quantitative genetic research on learning disabilities that led to the conclusion that genetic diagnoses differ from traditional diagnoses in that the effects of relevant genes are largely general rather than specific. This research suggests that most genes associated with common learning disabilities--language impairment, reading disability, and mathematics disability--are generalists in 3 ways. First, genes that affect common learning disabilities are largely the same genes responsible for normal variation in learning abilities. Second, genes that affect any aspect of a learning disability affect other aspects of the disability. Third, genes that affect one learning disability are also likely to affect other learning disabilities. These quantitative genetic findings have far-reaching implications for molecular genetics and neuroscience as well as psychology.
作者回顾了近期关于学习障碍的定量遗传学研究，该研究得出结论：基因诊断与传统诊断不同，相关基因的影响在很大程度上是普遍的而非特定的。这项研究表明，与常见学习障碍（语言障碍、阅读障碍和数学障碍）相关的大多数基因在三个方面具有普遍性。首先，影响常见学习障碍的基因在很大程度上与导致学习能力正常变异的基因相同。其次，影响学习障碍任何一个方面的基因也会影响该障碍的其他方面。第三，影响一种学习障碍的基因也可能影响其他学习障碍。这些定量遗传学研究结果对分子遗传学、神经科学以及心理学都具有深远的影响。
