Reis André, Spinath Frank M
Institute of Human Genetics, Universitäts klinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen; Individual Differences & Psychodiagnostic Lab, Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken.
Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2025 Jan 24;122(2):38-42. doi: 10.3238/arztebl.m2024.0236.
Intelligence is defined as general mental capacity, which includes the abilities to reason, solve new problems, think abstractly, and learn quickly. Genetic factors explain a considerable fraction of inter-individual differences in intelligence. For many years, research on intelligence was limited to estimating the relative importance of genetic and environmental factors, without identifying any individual causal factors.
This review of the literature is based on pertinent original publications and reviews.
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have shown that certain gene loci are associated with intelligence, as well as with educational attainment, which is known to be correlated with intelligence. As each individual gene locus accounts for only a very small part of the variance in intelligence ( < 0.02%), so-called "polygenic scores" (PGS) have been calculated in which thousands of genetic variants are summarized together. On the basis of the largest GWAS performed to date, it is estimated that 7-15% of inter-individual differences in educational attainment and 7-10% in intelligence among persons of European descent can be explained by genetic factors. These genetic effects are partly indirect. At the same time, the relative importance of genetic factors in determining complex features such as intelligence and educational attainment must always be seen against the background of individual environmental conditions. In the presence of difficult social conditions, for example, the influence of genetic factors is typically lower.
At present, the polygenic scores generated from genome-wide association studies are primarily of scientific interest, yet they are becoming increasingly informative and valid for individual prediction. There is, therefore, a need for broad social discussion about their future use.
智力被定义为一般心理能力，包括推理、解决新问题、抽象思维和快速学习的能力。遗传因素在很大程度上解释了个体间智力的差异。多年来，对智力的研究仅限于估计遗传和环境因素的相对重要性，而没有确定任何个体因果因素。
本综述基于相关的原始出版物和综述。
全基因组关联研究（GWAS）表明，某些基因位点与智力以及教育程度相关，而教育程度已知与智力相关。由于每个基因位点仅占智力差异的很小一部分（<0.02%），因此计算了所谓的“多基因分数”（PGS），其中数千个遗传变异被汇总在一起。根据迄今为止进行的最大规模的GWAS估计，欧洲血统人群中，7-15%的教育程度个体差异和7-10%的智力个体差异可由遗传因素解释。这些遗传效应部分是间接的。同时，在确定诸如智力和教育程度等复杂特征时，遗传因素的相对重要性必须始终放在个体环境条件的背景下来看。例如，在困难的社会条件下，遗传因素的影响通常较低。
目前，全基因组关联研究产生的多基因分数主要具有科学意义，但它们对个体预测的信息性和有效性正日益增强。因此，有必要就其未来用途进行广泛的社会讨论。
