Genome-wide meta-analysis of cognitive empathy: heritability, and correlates with sex, neuropsychiatric conditions and brain anatomy
Year: 2016
Type: preprint
Abstract: We conducted a genome-wide meta-analysis of cognitive empathy using the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ Test (Eyes Test) in 88,056 research volunteers of European Ancestry (44,574 females and 43,482 males) from 23andMe Inc., and an additional 1,497 research volunteers of European Ancestry (891 females and 606 males) from the Brisbane Longitudinal Twin Study (BLTS). We confirmed a female advantage on the Eyes Test (Cohen’s d = 0.21, P < 2.2x10 −16 ), and identified a locus in 3p26.1 that is associated with scores on the Eyes Test in females (rs7641347, P meta = 1.58 x 10 −8 ). Common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) explained 5.8% (95% CI: 0.45 - 0.72; P = 1.00 x 10 −17 ) of the total trait variance in both sexes, and we identified a twin heritability of 0.28 (95% CI: 0.13-0.42). Finally, we identified significant genetic correlation between the Eyes Test and anorexia nervosa, measures of empathy (the Empathy Quotient), openness (NEO-Five Factor Inventory), and different measures of educational attainment and cognitive aptitude, and show that the genetic determinants of volumes of the dorsal striatum (caudate nucleus and putamen) are positively correlated with the genetic determinants of performance on the Eyes Test.
DOI: 10.1101/081844
Authors: Varun Warrier, Katrina Grasby, Florina Uzefovsky, Roberto Toro, Paula Smith, Bhismadev Chakrabarti, Jyoti Khadake, Eleanor Mawbey-Adamson, Nadia Litterman, Jouke-Jan Hottenga, Gitta Lubke, Dorret I Boomsma, Nicholas G Martin, Peter K Hatemi, Sarah E Medland, David A Hinds, Thomas Bourgeron, Simon Baron-Cohen
Institutions: University of Cambridge, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut Pasteur, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Gènes, synapses et cognition, Université Paris Diderot, University of Reading, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, 23andMe (United States), Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam Public Health, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC Location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, University of Notre Dame, Pennsylvania State University, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Science Foundation, Wellcome Trust, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Cambridge Commonwealth Trust, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Science Foundation, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paris Diderot, Templeton World Charity Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Medical Research Council, National Human Genome Research Institute
OpenAlex ID: W2539709309