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Genome-wide analyses of empathy and systemizing: heritability and correlates with sex, education, and psychiatric risk

Varun Warrier, Roberto Toro, Bhismadev Chakrabarti, Nadia Litterman, David A. Hinds, Thomas Bourgeron, Simon Baron-Cohen
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/050682
Varun Warrier
1Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
623andMe Inc., Mountain View, California 94043, USA
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Roberto Toro
2Institut Pasteur, Human Genetics and Cognitive Functions Unit, Paris, France
3CNRS UMR 3571: Genes, Synapses and Cognition, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
4Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Human Genetics and Cognitive Functions, Paris, France
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Bhismadev Chakrabarti
1Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
5Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
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Nadia Litterman
623andMe Inc., Mountain View, California 94043, USA
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David A. Hinds
623andMe Inc., Mountain View, California 94043, USA
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Thomas Bourgeron
2Institut Pasteur, Human Genetics and Cognitive Functions Unit, Paris, France
3CNRS UMR 3571: Genes, Synapses and Cognition, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
4Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Human Genetics and Cognitive Functions, Paris, France
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Simon Baron-Cohen
1Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
7CLASS Clinic, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT), Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
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  • For correspondence: vw260@medschl.cam.ac.uk sb205@cam.ac.uk
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Abstract

Empathy is the drive to identify the mental states of others and respond to these with an appropriate emotion. Systemizing is the drive to analyse or build lawful systems. Difficulties in empathy have been identified in different psychiatric conditions including autism and schizophrenia. In this study, we conducted genome-wide association studies of empathy and systemizing using the Empathy Quotient (EQ) (n = 46,861) and the Systemizing Quotient-Revised (SQ-R) (n = 51,564) in participants from 23andMe, Inc. We confirmed significant sex-differences in performance on both tasks, with a male advantage on the SQ-R and female advantage on the EQ. We found highly significant heritability explained by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for both the traits (EQ: 0.11±0.014; P = 1.7 × 10-14 and SQ-R: 0.12±0.012; P = 1.2 × 10-20) and these were similar for males and females. However, genes with higher expression in the male brain appear to contribute to the male advantage for the SQ-R. Finally, we identified significant genetic correlations between high score for empathy and risk for schizophrenia (P = 2.5 × 10-5), and correlations between high score for systemizing and higher educational attainment (P = 5 × 10-4). These results shed light on the genetic contribution to individual differences in empathy and systemizing, two major cognitive functions of the human brain.

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Posted April 28, 2016.
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Genome-wide analyses of empathy and systemizing: heritability and correlates with sex, education, and psychiatric risk
Varun Warrier, Roberto Toro, Bhismadev Chakrabarti, Nadia Litterman, David A. Hinds, Thomas Bourgeron, Simon Baron-Cohen
bioRxiv 050682; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/050682
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Genome-wide analyses of empathy and systemizing: heritability and correlates with sex, education, and psychiatric risk
Varun Warrier, Roberto Toro, Bhismadev Chakrabarti, Nadia Litterman, David A. Hinds, Thomas Bourgeron, Simon Baron-Cohen
bioRxiv 050682; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/050682

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