Epigenetic variance in dopamine D2 receptor: a marker of IQ malleability?

ABSTRACT: Genetic and environmental factors both contribute to cognitive test performance. A substantial increase in average intelligence test results in the second half of the previous century within one generation is unlikely to be explained by genetic changes. One possible explanation for the strong malleability of cognitive performance measure is that environmental factors modify gene expression via epigenetic mechanisms. Epigenetic factors may help to understand the recent observations of an association between dopamine-dependent encoding of reward prediction errors and cognitive capacity, which was modulated by adverse life events. The possible manifestation of malleable biomarkers contributing to variance in cognitive test performance, and thus possibly contributing to the "missing heritabili

SUBMITTER: Kaminski JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6117339 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature