Brain and Aging Research Program, School of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Behav Genet. 2012 Jul;42(4):528-38. doi: 10.1007/s10519-012-9526-1.
"Executive functions" (EF) is a multidimensional construct which encompasses many higher-order cognitive control operations, and is considered a potential mediator of age-associated changes in other cognitive domains. Here we examine the heritability of four measures of EF, and the genetic influences on their covariation with general cognitive abilities (GCA) from the Older Australian Twins Study. Participants included 117 pairs of monozygotic twins, 98 pairs of dizygotic twins, and 42 single twins, with a mean age of 71. Genetic modeling showed that additive genetic factors contributed to 59, 63,29, and 31% of the variance in the four measures: working memory, verbal fluency, response inhibition and cognitive flexibility, respectively. The phenotypic associations among the four EF measures were modest, which is in line with other evidence that EF is a multi-dimensional construct.All of the covariation between the EF measures was attributable to a common genetic factor. Similarly, all of the covariation between EF and General Cognitive Ability was explained by a common genetic factor, with no significant covariance due to environmental (E) factors. The genetic correlations between the measures were moderately high, suggesting that they may have common biological underpinnings. The genetic influence in the covariation of the EF measures and GCA also suggests that some aspects of EF and GCA share the same genes or same set of genes.
“执行功能”（EF）是一个多维结构，包含许多高阶认知控制操作，被认为是与年龄相关的其他认知领域变化的潜在中介。在这里，我们从澳大利亚老年双胞胎研究中检查了 EF 的四个度量的遗传性，以及它们与一般认知能力（GCA）的遗传影响的协方差。参与者包括 117 对同卵双胞胎、98 对异卵双胞胎和 42 对单胎，平均年龄为 71 岁。遗传建模表明，加性遗传因素分别对四个指标的方差贡献了 59%、63%、29%和 31%：工作记忆、言语流畅性、反应抑制和认知灵活性。四个 EF 指标之间的表型关联是适度的，这与 EF 是一个多维结构的其他证据一致。EF 指标之间的所有协方差都归因于一个共同的遗传因素。同样，EF 与一般认知能力之间的所有协方差都归因于一个共同的遗传因素，由于环境（E）因素没有显著的协方差。度量之间的遗传相关性较高，表明它们可能具有共同的生物学基础。EF 指标和 GCA 协方差的遗传影响也表明，EF 和 GCA 的某些方面共享相同的基因或相同的基因集。
