Differences In Cognitive Development

With the emerging consensus that both genetics and the environment play a vital role in human development, researchers have begun understanding how different types of environments that infants are reared in begets the individual differences in cognitive ability. It is thought that individual differences in cognitive ability among children raised in a socioeconomically advantaged -as opposed to disadvantaged homes- are primarily due to genes, whereas environmental factors are more influential for children reared in socioeconomically disadvantaged homes. However, it is unclear when in childhood this gene by Socio-Economic Status (SES) interaction emerges. In their search for the emergence of this gene by SES effect, Tucker-Drob, Rhemtulla, Harden, Turkheimer, & Fask. (2011) examined whether this difference in cognitive development due to SES began as early as infancy. Longitudinal data on infant twins aged 10 months to 2 year olds, were used to predict whether by late infancy, there would be significant socioeconomic inequalities not only in their average level of mental ability, but in the heritability of mental abilities. …show more content…
This could lead to a misdiagnosis as Song, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, Hong, & Sung, (2010) compared correctly and incorrectly diagnosed twin pairs, in which, the authors found that misdiagnosed dizygotic twins demonstrated remarkable similarity in physicality and weight even exceeding that of true monozygotic twins. Song et al., (2010) suggests that a parsimonious questionnaire used in diagnosing the zygosity of the infant twins would be advantageous, whereas, adding physical or physiological measures would either confound the correct diagnosis or diminish the effectiveness of the study in comparison to using questionnaire alone or through