Heritability of Preferred Thinking Styles and a Genetic Link to Working Memory Capacity

Abstract

Genetic and environmental contributions to preferences for rational and experiential thinking were examined in 100 pairs of monozygotic and 73 pairs of same-sex dizygotic Australian twins. Univariate analyses for experiential thinking and working memory capacity (WMC) revealed genetic effects accounted for 44% and 39% of the variability respectively, with non-shared environmental effects accounting for the balance. For rational thinking, the univariate models produced ambiguous results about the relative roles of heritability and shared environment, but a subsequent Cholesky analysis suggested genetic effects accounted for 34%, with the balance, 66%, explained by the non-shared environment. The Cholesky analysis revealed that shared genetic effects accounted for 60%, and non-shared environment accounted for 40% of the relationship between preference for rational thinking and WMC.