Academic underachievement refers to school performance which falls below expectations. Focusing on the pivotal first stage of education, we explored a quantitative measure of underachievement using genomically predicted achievement delta (GPA[delta]), which reflects the difference between observed and expected achievement predicted by genome-wide…

Unlike in other countries, heredity and genetics appear first in Spanish science standards in secondary levels. However, some researchers have suggested the need of progressively introducing some basic genetic ideas already from primary education levels. In this context of no formal instruction in early stages, the objectives of our work were to…

Biology education research has shown that deeply rooted intuitions can influence students' understanding of biological phenomena. One example is design teleology, the intuition that organisms' traits were designed to fulfill a goal. Another example is psychological essentialism, the intuition that organisms have fixed essences. Past research has…

Despite growing interest in placental epigenetics, the combined impact of prenatal stress and socioeconomic status on placental methylation is still largely understudied. We conducted a study to examine the associations of prenatal stress and socioeconomic factors (household income, Hollingshead socioeconomic index) with placental methylation.…

This study investigated the systematic rise in cognitive ability scores over generations, known as the "Flynn Effect," across middle childhood and early adolescence (7-15 years; 291 monozygotic pairs, 298 dizygotic pairs; 89% White). Leveraging the unique structure of the Louisville Twin Study (longitudinal data collected continuously…

Background: Sensory processing differences are reported both in children with ADHD and in children with autism. Given the substantial overlap between autism and ADHD, the current study examined which sensory features were uniquely predictive of autistic traits after controlling for ADHD symptoms, age, IQ, and sex in a sample of children and…

Despite the importance of self-control for well-being and adjustment, its development from early childhood to early adolescence has been relatively understudied. We addressed the development of mother-reported self-control in what is likely the largest and longest longitudinal twin study of the topic to this day (N = 1889 individual children with…

We propose genetic social psychology as a theoretical framework to render intelligible both the suppression of the expression of prejudice and prejudice reduction in childhood. In particular, we explore the role of positive in-group norms in prejudice reduction in childhood and adolescence and their interplay with realistic and symbolic threats…

The negative health effects of cigarette smoking during pregnancy (SDP) on the foetus are well known. Despite previous reports of poor cognitive performance in offspring exposed to SDP, few studies specifically consider language outcomes according to maternal smoking. In this study, we systematically review the literature to assess the…

Purpose: Early language and speech acquisition can be delayed in twin children, a twinning effect that diminishes between 4 and 6 years of age in a population-based sample. The purposes of this study were to examine how twinning effects influence the identification of children with language impairments at 4 and 6 years of age, comparing children…

Background: In intellectual disability, the cognitive delay is observed during developmental age, whereas in dementia, cognitive decline occurs during post-developmental period. So far, the risk of dementia in people with intellectual disability, excluding those with Down syndrome, is poorly known. Method: We screened dementia signs in a study…

The study aimed to identify the mediating role of emotional intelligence and social competences in the relationship between gender and broad autism phenotype (BAP) as well as between age and BAP. It comprised 85 parents of children with ASD. They completed the questionnaires of Autism-Spectrum Quotient, social competences, and emotional…

Feeling inhibited and socially not at ease is reflected in the trait social inhibition (SI). SI is associated with psychopathology that arises in young adulthood, such as anxiety. We aim for a better insight into the genetic and environmental contributions to SI across the life span, and as such examine their contributions to SI stability and…

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.…

Many individuals with autism experience challenges using language in social contexts (i.e., pragmatic language). Characterizing and understanding pragmatic variability is important to inform intervention strategies and the etiology of communication challenges in autism; however, current manual coding-based methods are often time and labor…