twin study
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major reference
- In multiple birth: Twin studies
Because MZ twins carry identical genes, they have been used extensively in medical and psychological research. By comparing sets of MZ twins to carefully matched control sets of DZ twins (the “twin method”), researchers have attempted to elucidate the relative importance of heredity…
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heritability
- In heritability
…is commonly used in twin studies in the field of behaviour genetics. The methodology is based on the fact that identical twins (monozygotic, or one-egg twins) share 100 percent of their genes in common and nonidentical, or fraternal, twins (dizygotic, or two-egg twins) are similar to other siblings (i.e., brothers…
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human genetics
- In human genetics: Inferences from twin studies
By measuring the heights of a large number of ordinary siblings (brothers and sisters) and of twin pairs, it may be shown that the average difference between identical twins is less than half the difference for all other siblings. Any…
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