The objective of this research was to develop robust predictive models of the gains in working memory (WM) and fluid intelligence (Gf) following executive attention training in children, using genetic markers, gender, and age variables. We explore the influence of genetic variables on individual differences in susceptibility to intervention.…

Exposure to information about genetics is at an all-time high, while a full understanding of the biocultural complexity of human difference is low. This paper demonstrates the value of an "anthropological approach" to enhance genetics education in biology, anthropology, and other related disciplines, when teaching about human differences…

Accumulated evidence indicates that low spatial ability makes a contribution, separate from levels of general or verbal intelligence, to the unlikelihood of students enrolling in, or succeeding in, STEM subjects. Further, there is a tendency for female students not to perform as well as males on some spatial tests, suggesting that this might be…

Atypical visual perceptual skills are thought to underlie unusual visual attention in autism spectrum disorders. We assessed whether individual differences in visual processing skills scaled with quantitative traits associated with the broader autism phenotype (BAP). Visual perception was assessed using the Figure-ground subtest of the Test of…

Executive function (EF) skills are the attention-regulation skills that make it possible to sustain attention, keep goals and information in mind, refrain from responding immediately, resist distraction, tolerate frustration, consider the consequences of different behaviors, reflect on past experiences, and plan for the future. As EF research…

Objective: To review the methodology of behavior genetics studies addressing research questions that go beyond simple heritability estimation and illustrate these using representative research on childhood and adolescent anxiety and depression. Method: The classic twin design and its extensions may be used to examine age and gender differences in…

This paper presents a new perspective on the transition from early to middle childhood (i.e., human juvenility), investigated in an integrative evolutionary framework. Juvenility is a crucial life history stage, when social learning and interaction with peers become central developmental functions; here it is argued that the "juvenile transition"…

The involvement of genetic and environmental factors to the development of obsessive compulsion symptoms during the adolescent period is examined. Study revealed that individual differences in OC symptoms are heritable during puberty and shared environmental influences played a role only in the beginning of adolescence but no sex differences in…

Background: If the adaptive significance of specific fears changes with age, the genetic contribution to individual differences may be lowest at the age of greatest salience. The roles of genes and environment in the developmental-genetic trajectory of five common childhood fears are explored in 1094 like-sex pairs of male and female monozygotic…

We investigated for the first time the genetic and environmental aetiology behind scientific achievement in primary school children, with a special focus on possible aetiological differences for boys and girls. For a representative community sample of 2,602 twin pairs assessed at age nine years, scientific achievement in school was rated by…

Fifty families participated in mother-infant and father-infant still-face interaction at infant ages 3 and 6 months as part of a study of affect in early parent-infant relationships. Infants' positive and negative affect and parents' positive affect and physical play were coded from videotapes. Consistent with previous research, during the normal…

Background: Childhood psychopathology is associated with both high and low levels of prosocial behaviour. It has been proposed that the development of prosocial behaviour shows emerging and consolidating individual differences as children grow older. The influences on these individual differences have not previously been examined in children and…

This report offers a broad overview of the three major categories of explanations of gender patterns in cognitive functioning. Two of the major categories are biological and psychosocial. The third category, explanations that have been attributed to differences in the educational experiences of men and women, is treated separately because while…