Gene-experience correlation during cognitive development: Evidence from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) StudySM

Background: Findings in adults have shown more culturally sensitive 9crystallized9 measures of intelligence have greater heritability, these results were not able to be shown in children. Methods: With data from 8,518 participants, aged 9 to 11, from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study®, we used polygenic predictors of intelligence test performance (based on genome-wide association meta-analyses of data from 269,867 individuals) and of educational attainment (based on data from 1.1 million individuals), associating these predictors with neurocognitive performance. We then assessed the extent of mediation of these associations by a measure of recreational reading. Results: more culturally sensitive 9crystallized9 measures were more strongly associated with the polygenic predictors than were less culturally sensitive 9fluid9 measures. This mirrored heritability differences reported previously in adults and suggests similar associations in children. Recreational reading more strongly statistically mediated the genetic associations with crystallized than those with fluid measures of cognition. Conclusion: This is consistent with a prominent role of gene-environment correlation in cognitive development measured by "crystallized" intelligence tests. Such experiential mediators may represent malleable targets for improving cognitive outcomes.