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Heritability of Response Inhibition in Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2010

Russell J. Schachar ,
Nadine Forget-Dubois ,
Ginette Dionne ,
Michel Boivin  and
Philippe Robaey
Russell J. Schachar*
Affiliation:
Neurosciences and Mental Health Programme, Research Institute and the Department of Psychiatry, The Hospital for Sick Children & University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Nadine Forget-Dubois
Affiliation:
Groupe de recherche sur l'inadaptation psychosociale chez l'enfant (GRIP) and École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
Ginette Dionne
Affiliation:
Groupe de recherche sur l'inadaptation psychosociale chez l'enfant (GRIP) and École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
Michel Boivin
Affiliation:
Groupe de recherche sur l'inadaptation psychosociale chez l'enfant (GRIP) and École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
Philippe Robaey
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Research Center of Ste-Justine Hospital, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Russell J. Schachar, Department of Psychiatry, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8. E-mail: russell.schachar@sickkids.ca
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Abstract

We report the heritability of response inhibition, latency, and variability, which are potential markers of genetic risk in neuropsychiatric conditions. Genetic and environmental influences on cancellation and restraint, response latency, and variability measured in a novel variant of the stop signal task were studied in 139 eight-year-old twin pairs from a birth cohort. Cancellation (50%), restraint (27%), and response latency (41%) showed significant heritability, the balance being non-shared environmental influences and/or error. Response variability was not heritable, with 23% of the variance attributable to shared environmental influences and 77% to non-shared environmental risk or error. The phenotypic correlation between response cancellation and restraint was −.44 and between response latency and restraint was .21. These phenotypic correlations were entirely genetic in origin. The phenotypic correlation between response variability and % successful inhibition was .27, but was not genetic. Cancellation and restraint were heritable and shared genetic influences, indicating that they may be influenced by a common gene or genes. Response latency was moderately heritable and shared genetic influences with restraint, but was not correlated with cancellation. Response variability was not heritable. These results support the potential of response inhibition and latency as endophenotypes in genetic research. (JINS, 2011, 17, 238–247)

Keywords

Twin modelingEndophenotypeStop taskGo/no-goInhibitionHeritability
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , 28 February 2011 , pp. 238 - 247
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2010

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