Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have uncovered DNA variants associated with individual differences in general cognitive ability (g), but these are far from capturing heritability estimates obtained from twin studies. A major barrier to finding more of this ‘missing heritability’ is assessment––the use of diverse measures across GWA studies as well as time and the cost of assessment. In a series of four studies, we created a 15-min (40-item), online, gamified measure of g that is highly reliable (alpha = 0.78; two-week test-retest reliability = 0.88), psychometrically valid and scalable; we called this new measure Pathfinder. In a fifth study, we administered this measure to 4,751 young adults from the Twins Early Development Study. This novel g measure, which also yields reliable verbal and nonverbal scores, correlated substantially with standard measures of g collected at previous ages (r ranging from 0.42 at age 7 to 0.57 at age 16). Pathfinder showed substantial twin heritability (0.57, 95% CIs = 0.43, 0.68) and SNP heritability (0.37, 95% CIs = 0.04, 0.70). A polygenic score computed from GWA studies of five cognitive and educational traits accounted for 12% of the variation in g, the strongest DNA-based prediction of g to date. Widespread use of this engaging new measure will advance research not only in genomics but throughout the biological, medical, and behavioural sciences.

全基因组关联 (GWA) 研究发现了与一般认知能力 ( g ) 个体差异相关的 DNA 变异，但这些还远远不能捕捉从双胞胎研究中获得的遗传力估计值。寻找更多“缺失的遗传力”的一个主要障碍是评估——在 GWA 研究中使用不同的衡量标准以及评估的时间和成本。在一系列四项研究中，我们创建了一个 15 分钟（40 项）的在线游戏化g测量方法，该测量方法高度可靠（alpha = 0.78；两周重测可靠性 = 0.88）、心理测量有效且可扩展；我们将这项新措施称为“探路者”。在第五项研究中，我们对双胞胎早期发育研究中的 4,751 名年轻人进行了这项测量。这种新颖的g测量值还可以产生可靠的语言和非语言分数，与以前年龄收集的g标准测量值显着相关（ r范围从 7 岁时的 0.42 到 16 岁时的 0.57）。 Pathfinder 显示出显着的双胞胎遗传力（0.57，95% CI = 0.43，0.68）和 SNP 遗传力（0.37，95% CI = 0.04，0.70）。根据 GWA 对五种认知和教育特征的研究计算得出的多基因评分占g变异的 12%，这是迄今为止基于 DNA 的最强g预测。这种引人入胜的新措施的广泛使用不仅将推动基因组学的研究，而且将推动整个生物、医学和行为科学的研究。