New methods, persistent issues, and one solution: Gene-environment interaction studies of childhood cognitive development

Abstract

Children's differences in cognitive development stem from the complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors. Identifying gene-environment interactions in cognitive development is key for effectively targeting interventions that improve children's life chances. The advent of polygenic scores, which aggregate DNA variants to index a person's genetic propensities for phenotypic development, has created unprecedented opportunities for pinpointing gene-environment interactions. Yet, the issue of statistical power – the probability of detecting a true effect – prevails, and no replicable gene-environment interactions in child cognitive development have been reported. In this review article, we recapitulate three approaches to studying gene-environment interactions, including twin studies, candidate gene models, and polygenic score methods. We then discuss the issue of statistical power in gene-environment interaction research and conclude that larger samples are key to ushering a new era of replicable gene-environment interaction findings.