Does Math Have a Genetic Component?

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Individual differences in brains do exist (e.g., working memory capacity) and are relevant to key mathematical skills (e.g., abstraction ability).

Lots of people refuse to accept that because they don’t want it to be true. But it is true.

The general finding in talent development research is that the single biggest factor responsible for individual differences in performance is the volume of accumulated deliberate practice, and the next biggest factor is genetics, and the relative contributions of deliberate practice vs genetics can vary significantly across talent domains, with the importance of genetics increasing in domains where highly heritable traits (e.g., height, working memory capacity) pose a large competitive advantage.

I don’t mean to suggest that genetics is the primary factor, just that it’s significant, and especially so in a field as working-memory-dependent as mathematics.

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