14 DAY TRIAL // Kids who have difficulties in understanding mathematics, or when taking reading tests, may exhibit genetic and environmental variations that set them apart from the crowd, a new study has determined.
The research was groundbreaking in the methods it used, given that it tested the assumptions researchers had on identical and fraternal twins, some of which had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Scientists at the Florida State University (FSU), led by expert Sara Hart, PhD, carried out a long-term study on these children, assessing their reading and math performances, as well as the way the condition evolved in each of them.
Twins were used because psychologists found it easiest to tease out the differences between nature and nurture in kids that are otherwise identical. Both nature and nurture play critical roles in the later development of each individual.
But precisely how much each of the two influences the overall “outcome” has been a matter of debate for centuries and modern science, for all its technologically-advanced means, is no closer to resolving the discussions than the ancient Greeks were.
Identical twins, Hart explains, share all their DNA in common, whereas fraternal twins only about half. This enables experts to determine whether a trait is inherited genetically, or if it came from culture.
Some traits come from both sources at the same time, and researchers have specialized techniques that allow them to tease out these characteristics too, PsychCentral reports.
In the new experiments, the FSU team looked at how twins displayed ADHD symptoms, and also how well they fared in reading and math. The kids were first tested when they were aged 10.
The main conclusion of the research was that the same genetic factors influence the same type of ADHD-related behavior, and academic performances. A direct causal link between the two could however not be determined.
This work doesn't prove what causes what, experts say, but existing theories in the international scientific community hold that the working memory system ties the three together.
Hart explains that variations in the classroom and homework environment twins live and work in may have something to do with the difference in environmental influences each of them experiences.
Details of the investigation are published in the latest issue of the Association for Psychological Science' journal, Psychological Science.