Our results emphasize that we have limited understanding of the interplay between our current PS and genetic population structure even within one of the most thoroughly studied populations in human genetics. Therefore, we recommend refraining from using the current PS to argue for significant polygenic basis for geographic phenotype differences until we understand better the source and extent of the geographic bias in the current PS.Much of the work on this study involved height, so drawing conclusions about more complex mental traits would be even more confounding. (Would be useful to have a better understanding of the differences in population between Eastern and Western Finland).
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Stratification and PRS Difficulties
It is becoming clear that population stratification is a big issue in when assessing polygenic scores. This study demonstrates:
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Height correlates with nutrition, as does IQ.
ReplyDeleteWhat is a complex mental trait, by the way?
That implies that there are simple mental traits...
Is Pattern recognition a simple mental trait, or a very complex one?
Mexican hats are easy... for a computer.
It's a good question, Zed. Generally, "complex traits" is a made up term to describe traits for which they can't find a single causal gene. In other words, all mental traits. I am trapped in their language, since I think the whole premise of these "additive" genetic variations is a reach. So Mexican hat pattern recognition would be complex unless they could find a single gene for it, with the assumption that better Mexican hat recognition would involve hundreds or thousands of genetic variants. You could test people on hat recognition and then do a GWAS to find the genetic variants involved...
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