"Genetics, Intelligence and Other Quantitative Traits"

Speaker: 
Stephen Hsu
Institution: 
Univ. of Oregon
Date: 
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Time: 
3:30 pm
Location: 
RH 101

 
ABSTRACT:
 
How do genes affect cognitive ability or other quantitative traits
such as height? I begin with a brief review of psychometric measurements of
intelligence, introducing the idea of a "general factor" or IQ score. The
main results concern the stability, validity (predictive power), and
heritability of adult IQ. Next, I discuss ongoing Genome Wide Association
Studies which investigate the genetic basis of intelligence. Due mainly to
the rapidly decreasing cost of sequencing, it is likelythat within the next
5-10 years we will identify genes which account for a significant fraction of
total IQ variation.
 

 
Host: 
Yuri Shirman