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Cognitive and brain development is independently influenced by socioeconomic status and polygenic scores for educational attainment.


ABSTRACT: Genetic factors and socioeconomic status (SES) inequalities play a large role in educational attainment, and both have been associated with variations in brain structure and cognition. However, genetics and SES are correlated, and no prior study has assessed their neural associations independently. Here we used a polygenic score for educational attainment (EduYears-PGS), as well as SES, in a longitudinal study of 551 adolescents to tease apart genetic and environmental associations with brain development and cognition. Subjects received a structural MRI scan at ages 14 and 19. At both time points, they performed three working memory (WM) tasks. SES and EduYears-PGS were correlated (r = 0.27) and had both common and independent associations with brain structure and cognition. Specifically, lower SES was related to less total cortical surface area and lower WM. EduYears-PGS was also related to total cortical surface area, but in addition had a regional association with surface area in the right parietal lobe, a region related to nonverbal cognitive functions, including mathematics, spatial cognition, and WM. SES, but not EduYears-PGS, was related to a change in total cortical surface area from age 14 to 19. This study demonstrates a regional association of EduYears-PGS and the independent prediction of SES with cognitive function and brain development. It suggests that the SES inequalities, in particular parental education, are related to global aspects of cortical development, and exert a persistent influence on brain development during adolescence.

SUBMITTER: Judd N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7275733 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Cognitive and brain development is independently influenced by socioeconomic status and polygenic scores for educational attainment.

Judd Nicholas N   Sauce Bruno B   Wiedenhoeft John J   Tromp Jeshua J   Chaarani Bader B   Schliep Alexander A   van Noort Betteke B   Penttilä Jani J   Grimmer Yvonne Y   Insensee Corinna C   Becker Andreas A   Banaschewski Tobias T   Bokde Arun L W ALW   Quinlan Erin Burke EB   Desrivières Sylvane S   Flor Herta H   Grigis Antoine A   Gowland Penny P   Heinz Andreas A   Ittermann Bernd B   Martinot Jean-Luc JL   Paillère Martinot Marie-Laure ML   Artiges Eric E   Nees Frauke F   Papadopoulos Orfanos Dimitri D   Paus Tomáš T   Poustka Luise L   Hohmann Sarah S   Millenet Sabina S   Fröhner Juliane H JH   Smolka Michael N MN   Walter Henrik H   Whelan Robert R   Schumann Gunter G   Garavan Hugh H   Klingberg Torkel T  

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20200519 22


Genetic factors and socioeconomic status (SES) inequalities play a large role in educational attainment, and both have been associated with variations in brain structure and cognition. However, genetics and SES are correlated, and no prior study has assessed their neural associations independently. Here we used a polygenic score for educational attainment (EduYears-PGS), as well as SES, in a longitudinal study of 551 adolescents to tease apart genetic and environmental associations with brain de  ...[more]

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