Genetic and Environmental Influences on Cognitive and Neural Development
type: CreativeWork
description: The brain self-organises slowly over time, being shaped by both endogenous and exogenous factors. This process results in a unique system for each person, with neuronal circuits shaped by an individual’s genetic background and experience. This thesis aims to better understand these multifactorial gene-environment-outcome relationships, and how they relate to human development. Using multiple data types from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) combined with a diverse methodological approach, I highlight compounding environmental factors which longitudinally interact to predict developmental outcomes, generate meaningful and valid measures of polygenic propensity, and consider the ways the early environment and polygenic heritability influence and interact to influence specific features of the structural connectome, features that are essential for coherent neural communication and brain function. In the first empirical chapter, I use structural equation modelling to assess whether maternal mental health longitudinally mediates associations between the early socioeconomic status (SES) and key developmental outcomes (i.e., cognitive ability and child mental health). I show that maternal mental health mediates these relationships, and primarily during the first year of life. In the second empirical chapter, I employ polygenic score (PGS) analysis to generate valid and meaningful PGSs for cognitive ability and educational attainment, with the PGSs for cognitive ability ultimately taken forward in the proceeding empirical chapters. The third empirical chapter incorporates measures of socioeconomic status, PGSs for cognitive ability, and diffusion tract imaging data to explore how these data types are associated with global and local features of the connectome. This was made possible by employing graph theory metrics and partial least squares regression analysis. I demonstrate the early child environment and the genome influence the structure of the…
abstract: The brain self-organises slowly over time, being shaped by both endogenous and exogenous factors. This process results in a unique system for each person, with neuronal circuits shaped by an individual’s genetic background and experience. This thesis aims to better understand these multifactorial gene-environment-outcome relationships, and how they relate to human development. Using multiple data types from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) combined with a diverse methodological approach, I highlight compounding environmental factors which longitudinally interact to predict developmental outcomes, generate meaningful and valid measures of polygenic propensity, and consider the ways the early environment and polygenic heritability influence and interact to influence specific features of the structural connectome, features that are essential for coherent neural communication and brain function. In the first empirical chapter, I use structural equation modelling to assess whether maternal mental health longitudinally mediates associations between the early socioeconomic status (SES) and key developmental outcomes (i.e., cognitive ability and child mental health). I show that maternal mental health mediates these relationships, and primarily during the first year of life. In the second empirical chapter, I employ polygenic score (PGS) analysis to generate valid and meaningful PGSs for cognitive ability and educational attainment, with the PGSs for cognitive ability ultimately taken forward in the proceeding empirical chapters. The third empirical chapter incorporates measures of socioeconomic status, PGSs for cognitive ability, and diffusion tract imaging data to explore how these data types are associated with global and local features of the connectome. This was made possible by employing graph theory metrics and partial least squares regression analysis. I demonstrate the early child environment and the genome influence the structure of the…
author: Smith, Tess
language: eng
keywords: Cognition, Connectomics, Development, Genetics, Socioeconomic Status
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/daecb2aa-6903-4edd-bd25-1607a35cc1da/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2023-03-28
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:08Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.104078