PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Genetics, Behavioral”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Age differences in the nature and origin of individual differences in memory: a behavior genetic analysis.

Measures of memory performance and cognitive and lifestyle variables were obtained from 147 younger twin pairs (27 to 60 years) and 194 older twin pairs (60 to 94 years) as part of the Minnesota Twin Study of Adult Development and Aging. Correlational and behavior genetic analyses were combined to investigate age differences in 1) the relationship between memory performance and cognitive and lifestyle variables, 2) genetic and environmental influences on memory performance, and 3) genetic and environmental mediation of the relationship between memory and predictor variables. No age differences in heritability were found. Qualitative age differences in memory processes were suggested by age group differences in the correlations between memory and cognitive factors. Even though age differences in phenotypic correlations had been demonstrated, no age differences in the genetic and environmental mediation of the correlations were found. In other words, the magnitude of the correlation between memory and cognitive factors varied across age groups but the nature of the relationship did not.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Who should fund and control the direction of human behavior genetics? Review of Nuffield Council on Bioethics 2002 report, genetics and human behaviour: the ethical context.

In this (Nuffield Council on Bioethics 2002), the third in its series on ethics and related issues in genetics (see also Nuffield Council on Bioethics 1993 and Nuffield Council on Bioethics 1998), the Nuffield Council has focused on four'normal' behaviors; intelligence, personality, antisocial behavior and sexual orientation. This is a narrow range of behaviors and one where their discussion of the potential impact of predictive genetic testing is probably inappropriate. They also take an unduly narrow view of the purposes of behavior genetics in the 21st century. It is not simply to estimate heritability but to understand more about the structure of behavior and the processes which underlie it. Their narrow focus and their negative approach to the history and achievements of genetics is reflected in their less than positive support for future behavior genetic research. Behavior geneticists need to do more to publicize what their field has achieved in order to counter the very extensive antibehavior genetics initiatives which are almost unique in science. At the same time, organizations such as the Nuffield Council need to consider carefully the impact their deliberations may have on research funding.

Advisory Committees↗
PubMed1971

Behavioral genetics.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Amino Acid Metabolism, Inborn Errors↗
PubMed1977

Behavior-genetic analysis of Phormia regina: conditioning, reliable individual differences, and selection.

Using proboscis extension (unconditioned response) to sucrose (unconditioned stimulus), individual blowflies (Phormia regina) were classically conditioned to saline and to water (conditioned stimuli) with sensitization controls, thus providing unique, independently replicated evidence both of learning in Diptera and of reliably measured individual differences. Directional and stabilizing selection have bred high and low performance lines markedly different from an unselected control line as a step in the analysis of behavior-genetic correlates. This replicates and extends previous selection analysis with improved conditioning technique. Also, some unwarranted claims of learning in Diptera are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Behavior-genetic analysis of the paradise fish, Macropodus opercularis. III. Genetic analysis of the response to novelty using recombinant inbred strains.

Fifteen behavioral measurements were taken on paradise fish of two inbred progenitor strains and of 16 recombinant lines derived from their cross and maintained under inbreeding with gynogenesis and sib-mating. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed significant differences among the RI means on all measures. Four combined variables extracted by principal component analysis showed that there were common sources of a large part of the behavioral variability measured in the arbitrarily designed test situations. There were no separate subgroups of the RI strain means, and overlapping ranges point to a polygenic genetic determination of the studied behavioral phenotypes. A biometrical analysis of the distribution pattern of recombinant lines and the progenitor strains showed that in several characters non-allelic genic interactions made a significant contribution to the variation. Additive and interaction components of the mean, the heritabilities and the minimum number of effective factors were estimated for all studied behavioral phenotypes, and the combined variables as well.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

A behavioral-genetic perspective on children of alcoholics.

Resemblance between parents and their children with respect to certain behaviors (e.g., alcohol use) may result from shared genes or from environmental influences that affect all members of a family similarly. Behavioral geneticists have used adoption, twin, and genetic marker studies to investigate the contributions of genetic as well as shared and nonshared environmental influences to the increased risk for alcoholism in children of alcoholics (COA's). These analyses have found that in male COA's, genetic makeup (i.e., genotype) plays an important role in the development of alcoholism; in female COA's, however, the results were less consistent. Moreover, for both men and women, genetic factors alone cannot account for their risk of alcoholism. The behavioral-genetic concepts of genotype-environment interaction and genotype-environment correlation may provide useful models for the joint influences of genetic and environmental factors in the development of alcoholism.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed2001

Controlling the false discovery rate in behavior genetics research.

The screening of many endpoints when comparing groups from different strains, searching for some statistically significant difference, raises the multiple comparisons problem in its most severe form. Using the 0.05 level to decide which of the many endpoints' differences are statistically significant, the probability of finding a difference to be significant even though it is not real increases far beyond 0.05. The traditional approach to this problem has been to control the probability of making even one such error--the Bonferroni procedure being the most familiar procedure achieving such control. However, the incurred loss of power stemming from such control led many practitioners to neglect multiplicity control altogether. The False Discovery Rate (FDR), suggested by Benjamini and Hochberg [J Royal Stat Soc Ser B 57 (1995) 289], is a new, different, and compromising point of view regarding the error in multiple comparisons. The FDR is the expected proportion of false discoveries among the discoveries, and controlling the FDR goes a long way towards controlling the increased error from multiplicity while losing less in the ability to discover real differences. In this paper we demonstrate the problem in two studies: the study of exploratory behavior [Behav Brain Res (2001)], and the study of the interaction of strain differences with laboratory environment [Science 284 (1999) 1670]. We explain the FDR criterion, and present two simple procedures that control the FDR. We demonstrate their increased power when used in the above two studies.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Use of chromosomally mapped and identified mouse brain proteins for behavioral genetic analysis of alcoholism.

A logical first place to look in order to identify loci determining behavioral differences between inbred and certain outbred strains of mice is among the proteins expressed in brain. Fourteen mouse brain proteins have been demonstrated to be genetically variant, four of these have been chromosomally mapped and an additional twelve have been identified and can be simultaneously screened by two dimensional electrophoresis. Certain genetic differences in behavior relevant to alcohol consumption and the effects of alcohol occur between inbred, recombinant inbred and selectively outbred strains. Two genetic correlations are reported, one between an isoelectric point variant of A7 (a 71 kd, pI 5.4 abundant protein) and resistance to signs of ethanol withdrawal and the other between A12 (a 28 kd, pI 5.6 protein) and ethanol intake. Though tentative, these findings illustrate the power of this approach for behavioral genetic analysis and may allow the biochemical genetic bases of these traits to be understood.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed2001

Zebrafish mutants: behavioral genetic studies of visual system defects.

Zebrafish are a promising model for behavioral and genetic studies of vertebrate visual system development and retinal degeneration. In the past few years, numerous studies on zebrafish vision have been published. While most of the studies focus on the molecular and cellular characterization of mutations that disrupt zebrafish visual system structure in early development, others examine the mechanisms that underlie inherited visual system disorders in adults. Behavioral assays, along with morphologic and electrophysiological methods, are powerful tools for functional analyses of zebrafish visual development and performance.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

A developmental behavior-genetic perspective on alcoholism risk.

Although behavioral problems associated with abuse of alcohol emerge during late adolescence and adulthood, some behavioral characteristics indicative of an increased risk of alcoholism may already be obvious during early childhood. Studies in several countries have demonstrated that children with high levels of novelty-seeking behavior and low levels of harm-avoidance behavior are more likely to develop alcohol-related problems during adolescence. Moreover, as early as age 3, children at high risk of future alcoholism because of a family history are more active, more impatient, and more aggressive than matched controls of low-risk children. Causal influences on the initiation of drinking must be distinguished from those that affect patterns of consumption once drinking is initiated. Studies of adolescent twins have demonstrated that initiation of drinking is primarily influenced by the drinking status of parents, siblings, and friends and by socioregional differences in the environments within which adolescent twins reside. The influence of genetic factors is negligible. Conversely, once initiated, differences in frequency and quantity of drinking are strongly influenced by genetic factors. However, these influences, too, are modulated by sibling and peer effects and by regional environmental variation.

Alcoholism↗