Robert J. Plomin

Revisiting genetic associations with educational outcomes during and after the Soviet era in Estonia

The paper examines genetic contributions to educational attainment and occupational status in Estonia during and after the Soviet era using the Estonian Biobank, finding increased genetic influence in education but not occupation.

Charting the cognitive development of children using adult 'polygenic g scores'

This study uses adult polygenic g scores to track cognitive development in 10,000 children, showing increasing predictive power over time.

Genome-wide analysis of social behaviour in context: a meta-regression approach across social domains, reporters and developmental stages

This study uses genome-wide meta-regression to analyze social behavior across different contexts, ages, and reporters, identifying six genetic loci and showing modest heritability.

Robust inference and widespread genetic correlates from a large-scale genetic association study of human personality

This study identifies 1,257 genetic variants associated with human personality traits using large-scale GWAS and finds widespread genetic correlations with behaviors and life outcomes.

From genetic disposition to academic achievement: The mediating role of non-cognitive skills across development

This study shows non-cognitive skills mediate genetic effects on academic achievement, accounting for up to 64% of the total effect across development.

Exploring the specific predictive ability of multiple domains of spatial ability on STEM educational outcomes

This study examines how different domains of spatial ability predict STEM educational outcomes and finds that object manipulation tests are most predictive, with genetic factors explaining most of the associations.

Gene-environment correlation: The role of family environment in academic development

The paper examines how family environment mediates genetic effects on academic achievement, showing that family characteristics beyond socio-economic status influence academic outcomes through gene-environment correlation.

Genome-wide analyses of vocabulary size in infancy and toddlerhood: associations with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and cognition-related traits

This study identifies genetic links between early vocabulary development and ADHD and cognition traits using genome-wide analyses.

Genetic contributions of noncognitive skills to academic development

This study shows noncognitive skills become more predictive of academic achievement over time and their genetic contribution increases with age.

Genome-wide association study of school grades identifies a genetic overlap between language ability, psychopathology and creativity

This study identifies genetic overlaps between psychiatric disorders, language ability, and creativity through a GWAS of school grades.

The genetics of specific cognitive abilities

This paper reviews twin studies on heritability of specific cognitive abilities, finding substantial heritability similar to general intelligence, and suggests future genomic research to predict these traits independently of general intelligence.

The winding roads to adulthood: a twin study

This study investigates genetic and environmental influences on 57 psychological traits in emerging adulthood using UK twins, finding significant genetic contributions and their associations with health and educational outcomes.

Uncovering the Genetic Architecture of Broad Antisocial Behavior through a Genome-Wide Association Study Meta-analysis.

This study identifies genetic variants associated with antisocial behavior through a genome-wide association meta-analysis, finding significant links to FOXP2 and correlations with multiple health and behavioral traits.

Pathfinder: A gamified measure to integrate general cognitive ability into the biological, medical, and behavioural sciences

The paper introduces a gamified cognitive ability measure, Pathfinder, which shows heritability and genetic prediction of general cognitive ability.

Using DNA to predict behaviour problems from preschool to adulthood

This paper improves the prediction of behaviour problems using multi-GPS, cross-age and cross-rater composites, increasing predictive variance from less than 2% to up to 6%.

Predicting alcohol use from genome-wide polygenic scores, environmental factors, and their interactions in young adulthood

This study predicts alcohol use in young adults using polygenic scores, environmental factors, and their interactions, finding mainly direct effects rather than significant interactions.

Evaluation of Polygenic Prediction Methodology within a Reference-Standardized Framework

This study evaluates polygenic scoring methods in a reference-standardized framework, finding that LDPred2, lassosum, and PRScs provide the best predictive performance.

Within-sibship GWAS improve estimates of direct genetic effects

In 159,701 siblings from 17 cohorts, population GWAS overstate direct effects on height, education, smoking, cognition, depressive symptoms and age at first birth; clinical traits mostly agree across models.

Multivariable G-E interplay in the prediction of educational achievement

This study investigates how polygenic scores and environmental factors jointly predict educational achievement, finding significant gene-environment correlation but no overall gene-environment interaction.

Evidence for a unitary structure of spatial cognition beyond general intelligence.

The paper assesses spatial orientation and object-based spatial abilities in a large twin sample, finding a common genetic network underlying all spatial abilities.

Comparison of adopted and non-adopted individuals reveals gene-environment interplay for education in the UK Biobank

The paper compares polygenic scores for education between adopted and non-adopted individuals in the UK Biobank to assess gene-environment interplay, finding stronger genetic prediction in non-adopted individuals.

Genetic factors underlie the association between anxiety, attitudes and performance in mathematics

The paper examines how genetic and environmental factors explain the relationship between mathematics anxiety and related traits like attitudes, abilities, and performance in adolescents.

Predicting educational achievement from genomic measures and socioeconomic status

This study examines how genomic measures and socioeconomic status predict educational achievement across school years in UK children.

The p factor: Genetic analyses support a general dimension of psychopathology in childhood and adolescence

The paper investigates a general dimension of psychopathology (p factor) across childhood and adolescence, finding it highly heritable and genetically stable.

Comparing within- and between-family polygenic score prediction

This study compares within- and between-family polygenic score predictions for eight life outcomes in DZ twins, finding that cognitive traits show greater between-family prediction, which is explained by socio-economic status.

Genomic prediction of cognitive traits in childhood and adolescence

The paper uses genome-wide association study summary statistics to predict cognitive traits in children, showing 11% variance in intelligence and 16% in educational achievement at age 12-16.

Evidence for gene-environment correlation in child feeding: Links between common genetic variation for BMI in children and parental feeding practices

This paper investigates gene-environment correlation by showing that children's genetic predispositions to BMI influence parental feeding practices, with polygenic scores linked to restriction and pressure.

A polygenic p factor for major psychiatric disorders

The paper tests the genetic p factor hypothesis by analyzing correlations across psychiatric disorders using multiple methods and finds strong support for a genetic p factor.

Genes associated with neuropsychiatric disease increase vulnerability to abnormal deep grey matter development

The paper finds that genetic risk for neuropsychiatric diseases is linked to reduced deep grey matter volume in preterm infants, suggesting a mechanism for how early adversity interacts with genetic vulnerability.

Functional consequences of genetic loci associated with intelligence in a meta-analysis of 87,740 individuals

The paper identifies brain cell types and genes associated with intelligence using GWAS and single-cell gene expression data from a large cohort.