Large GWAS and neuroimaging studies now show reproducible but modest associations between DNA variation, brain structure, and cognitive test scores. However, this review highlights a persistent ‘mechanistic gap’: statistical associations have not yet been translated into concrete molecular or circuit‑level causal accounts that explain how specific variants alter brain development to shape cognitive differences.
— Pointing out the mechanistic gap tempers simplistic public policy claims (for or against hereditarian explanations) and argues for cautious, evidence‑aware use of genetics in education, medicine, and law.
Arnold Kling
2026.01.12
80% relevant
Randolph Nesse’s quoted remarks—pleiotropy, cross‑disorder genetic overlap, and diagnostic dichotomization—map onto the existing idea that genetic prediction for complex traits (cognition, psychiatric diagnoses) lacks mechanistic specificity and is easily misinterpreted in policy contexts.
2021.02.02
100% relevant
Deary et al. (Molecular Psychiatry, 2022) survey GWAS loci, DNA‑heritability estimates, and brain‑imaging correlates and explicitly state that mechanistic accounts are lacking despite new, modest associations.
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