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An analysis of Koch's (1966) Primary Mental Abilities Test data for 5- to 7-year-old twins

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Abstract

The purpose of this note is to present twin correlations based on analyses of Koch's (1966) Primary Mental Abilities Test data on 83 pairs of 5- to 7-year-old twins. The results yielded significant heritability for the Spatial subtest and suggested genetic influence on the Verbal and Quantitative subtests as well. An analysis of the phenotypic correlation between the Verbal and Spatial subtests suggested that verbal and spatial abilities are genetically independent at this age and that the relationship between the two abilities is mediated primarily by within-family environmental factors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado, 80309, Boulder, Colorado

    Robert Plomin & Steven G. Vandenberg

Authors
  1. Robert Plomin
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  2. Steven G. Vandenberg
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Additional information

This work was supported in part by NICHD Research Grant HD-10333 and NSF Research Grant BNS-7826204.

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Plomin, R., Vandenberg, S.G. An analysis of Koch's (1966) Primary Mental Abilities Test data for 5- to 7-year-old twins. Behav Genet 10, 409–412 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065602

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065602

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