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• Spotlight: Brian Byrne
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Participant Spotlight

Brian Byrne, University of New England

Research area: Psychology - Psycholinguistics

Currently I am directing an international longitudinal twin study of early literacy and language. Studying twins is an informative way to identify genetic and environmental influences on human traits. The international and longitudinal aspects gives the project extra value because we can factor in cultural and linguistic differences and track development, all within a genetically-sensitive design. The countries involved are Australia, the USA, Norway and Sweden, and the age range encompassed is 4 to 8 years (with future extensions to around 12 years). Genetic factors for processes important for learning to read are already in evidence before schooling commences, and continue to exert a substantial influence on literacy throughout the early school years. In the first school year, the heritability of reading and spelling is higher in Australia than Scandinavia, likely reflecting the more intensive and extensive literacy curriculum here. New genes for reading come on stream in Scandinavia and the US in the move from kindergarten to Grade 1, but not in Australia. The project is still in the data collection phase, and we expect other interesting observations in the next few years. Recently, the Language and Cognition Research Centre at UNE has initiated another twin project, this time to examine genetic and environmental influences on second language acquisition. Two recent references Byrne, B., Samuelsson, S., Wadsworth, S, Hulslander, J., Corley, R., DeFries, J. C., Quain, P., Willcutt, E., & Olson, R. K. (2007). Longitudinal twin study of early literacy development: Preschool through Grade 1. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 20, 77-102. Samuelsson, S., Byrne, B., Wadsworth, S, Corley, R., DeFries, J. C., Willcutt, E., Hulslander, J., & Olson, R. K. (2007). Genetic and environmental influences on prereading skills and early reading and spelling development in the United States, Australia, and Scandinavia. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 20, 51-75.