Gene-environment interaction and correlation in the Louisville Twin Study

描述（由申请人提供）：路易斯维尔双胞胎研究（LTS）成立于1959年，并持续资助了40年；数据收集于2003年终止。LTS包括在路易斯维尔地区出生的1500多对双胞胎的数据。在3个月至15岁之间的16个不同测量场合收集了有关身体和医疗参数、健康、家庭、学校表现和认知能力的数据。认知能力的重复测量将被用来回答有关能力差异的原因的重要问题。数据将适合于一个综合模型，该模型将为儿童时期智力发展的一些最重要的观察提供解释：遗传因素的重要性在整个童年时期增加，遗传的作用在贫困环境中长大的儿童中减弱，个体双胞胎和兄弟姐妹相对于其家庭成员的时间稳定性随着年龄的增长而增加。该假说认为，这三种现象都是儿童与环境不断匹配的结果，通过这个过程，具有最高认知能力的儿童暴露在最丰富的环境中。此外，还要求提供资金，以支持正在进行的LTS数据的恢复和存档工作，以便最终向整个科学界提供这些数据。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Louisville Twin Study (LTS) was established in 1959, and continuously funded for forty years; data collection was terminated in 2003. The LTS includes data on over 1500 twins born in the Louisville area. Data were collected on physical and medical parameters, health, families, school performance and cognitive ability at 16 different measurement occasions between three months and fifteen years of age. Repeated measurements of cognitive ability will be used to answer important questions about the causes of differences in ability through development. Data will be fit to an integrative model that will provide explanations of some of the most important observations regarding intellectual development during childhood: the importance of genetic factors increases throughout childhood, the role of genetics is diminished among children raised in impoverished environments, and the temporal stability of individual twins and siblings relative their family members increases with age. The hypothesis is that all three phenomena occur as a result of a process of ongoing matching of children to environments, through which children with the greatest observed cognitive abilities are exposed to the most enriching environments. In addition, funds are requested to support the ongoing recovery and archiving of the data from the LTS, so they can eventually be made available to the scientific community at large.