The video explores the speaker's personal journey in understanding the role of genetics in musicality and behavior, focusing on their own experience trying to learn drums with a friend. Despite similar environmental factors, the friend's faster progress led the speaker, a behavioral geneticist, to delve into genetic influences on skills and interests. By referencing twin studies, the speaker illustrates how genetic factors contribute substantially to individual differences in musical talent and behavior in general, explaining that these differences are partly genetic and partly environmental.

Drawing on research techniques like genome-wide association studies, the speaker elaborates on how genetic predispositions are determined and how these can predict general group behaviors, such as musical engagement, rather than individual capabilities. The speaker used Beethoven's genetic data as an example to illustrate the complexity and limitations of predicting musical talent purely through genetics, stressing that genetics and the environment collectively shape human behavior and abilities.

Main takeaways from the video:

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Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. wishful thinking [ˈwɪʃfəl ˈθɪŋkɪŋ] - (noun phrase) - The act of believing something is possible or will happen when it is not likely. - Synonyms: (pipe dream, fantasy, illusion)

I wanted to play metallica. That turned out to be wishful thinking.

2. behavioral geneticist [bɪˈheɪvjərəl dʒəˈnɛtɪsɪst] - (noun) - A scientist who studies the role of genetics and environment in influencing behaviors. - Synonyms: (geneticist, biologist, scientist)

You see, I am a behavioral geneticist.

3. heritability [ˌhɛrɪtəˈbɪlɪti] - (noun) - The proportion of observed variation in a particular trait (as in height) that can be attributed to inherited genetic factors in contrast to environmental ones. - Synonyms: (genetic predisposition, inheritable quality, transmissibility)

And twin studies, these twin comparisons, they calculate something called the heritability and inheritability estimate.

4. genome-wide association studies [ˌdʒiːnoʊm waɪd əˌsoʊsiˈeɪʃən ˈstʌdiz] - (noun phrase) - Research methods that involve rapidly scanning complete sets of DNA from many participants to find genetic variations associated with a particular disease or trait. - Synonyms: (genetic research, DNA study, genomic analysis)

And this allowed researchers to conduct so-called genome-wide association studies.

5. polygenic score [ˌpɒliˈdʒɛnɪk skɔːr] - (noun phrase) - A number derived from the sum of gene variants an individual possesses, used to predict certain outcomes related to traits like height, intelligence, or disease risk. - Synonyms: (genetic score, genetic predisposition, polygenic index)

This is called a polygenic score.

6. genetic predisposition [dʒəˈnɛtɪk ˌpriːdɪsˈpoʊzɪʃən] - (noun phrase) - An increased likelihood of developing a particular disease or trait based on a person’s genetic makeup. - Synonyms: (genetic tendency, hereditary inclination, biological tendency)

And we actually studied this and saw that people that have a genetic predisposition for bead clapping.

7. environmental interplay [ɪnˌvaɪrənˈmɛntəl ˈɪntərˌpleɪ] - (noun phrase) - The interaction between genetic factors and environmental influences in shaping behavior and development. - Synonyms: (environmental interaction, ecological dynamics, biosocial interplay)

To study this gene, environmental interplay, and how it works.

8. adrenaline [əˈdrɛnəlɪn] - (noun) - A hormone secreted by the adrenal glands that increases rates of blood circulation, breathing, and carbohydrate metabolism during stress. - Synonyms: (epinephrine, hormone, stimulant)

An hour of loud banging on the drums, a rush of adrenaline clearing my mind.

9. musicality [ˌmjuːzɪˈkælɪti] - (noun) - Musical talent or quality. - Synonyms: (musical ability, harmony, melody)

I am quite well aware of the fact that differences between people in musicality are not only due to environmental conditions, but genetic factors also play a role.

10. intertwined [ˌɪntərˈtwaɪnd] - (adjective) - Twisted together or connected so as to be difficult to separate. - Synonyms: (interlaced, interwoven, connected)

It is nature and nurture, and they are intertwined.

Is music in our DNA? - Laura Wesseldijk - TEDxBerlinSalon

At the age of 32, I decided, together with a friend, to start playing the drums. I wanted to play Metallica. That turned out to be wishful thinking. I turned out to be quite rubbish at playing the drums. My friend, however, was definitely not as bad as me. And this surprised me because both of us had actively played a musical instrument during our childhood. Both of us had drumming classes only once every two weeks, and both of us did not own a drum kit and we couldn't practice at home. So our environmental conditions were really quite similar. Yet she progressed much faster than me. How was this possible? And could I have predicted this?

You see, I am a behavioral geneticist. I study how genetics and the environment shape behavior. And it happens to be that my work involves musicality and music engagement. And therefore I am quite well aware of the fact that differences between people in musicality are not only due to environmental conditions, but genetic factors also play a role. And this, by the way, applies to all human behavior. You can think of why some people are more curious than others. How many books you read, if you like doing sports, like eating carrots, you name it. So how do we know this?

Since the early 19 hundreds, twin studies have shown this. And twin studies make use of the fact that there are two types of twins in this world. There are identical twins that are derived from one fertilized single egg cell and therefore they share the same DNA. And there are non identical twins which are derived from two different fertilized egg cells, just like regular brothers and sisters, and therefore on average they share 50% of their DNA.

And twin studies compare these two types of twins. The resemblance between these two types of twins, for example, if an identical twin is highly musically talented, then his or her co twin is most of the time musically gifted as well, while in non identical twins, if one of them is musically gifted, it's way less likely that their co twin is also musically talented, then this suggests that genetic factors play a role for musicality.

And these twin studies, these twin comparisons, they calculate something called the heritability and inheritability estimate, tells us how much specific behavior is influenced by genetic factors and for music, these twin studies. Several twin studies taken together showed that differences between people are for 40% explained by genetic factors.

And this doesn't only apply to musical abilities and musical skills, but also whether you like to engage in music, how often you listen to music, how much you practice. All of these music related behavior is partly influenced by the genes that we inherit. This will result in musicality clustering in families. In other words, if in your family, someone is musically talented, there is a higher chance that there will be other people with musical talent as well. And I'm sure you can all think of some examples. There's the Jackson Five, there's AC DC. And did you know that the Bach family actually consisted of around 50 highly talented musicians?

So, clustering can also occur because they share the same family environment that is of influence. But it will inevitably also happen when genetic factors play a role. So what can we do with this information that musicality is partly influenced by our genes? Well, researchers need to be aware of this when we study how our environment shapes our musical abilities. For example, if we want to see how regular practice affects musical abilities, we can't ignore the fact that there are different genetic starting points and that practice actually varies. The effect of practice, it varies depending on people's genetic packages.

So you might be wondering now, can I apply this 40% heritability of musicality to my own lack of drumming skills? Well, the answer is no. It doesn't mean that my personal musicality comes for 40% directly from my own genes. Instead, it says something about a population as a whole. It helps to explain why some people are highly musically talented, others less so, and some not at all. Those differences between people, they are explained for 40% by genetic differences between them and for 60% by environmental differences.

So, besides the fact that it quite quickly became clear to me that I most likely do not possess the genetic factors predisposing to drumming, there's just the fact that genes partly influence musicality could not have personally warned me about my bad drumming skills. So now, you know, twin studies, they tell us how much human behavior or specific traits are influenced by genetic factors, but they do not tell us which exact genetic variants are involved. Where are they?

And this only became possible to study after the discovery of the DNA helix in 1953. Then it became clear that our human buildup, our human architecture, is coded in DNA, and the human DNA contains many millions of genetic variants and many thousands of genes, which are segments of DNA that contain genetic variants. And years of research since then showed that human behavior is actually influenced by many different genetic variants. And these genetic variants do not only influence one type of behavior, but many different types of behavior.

So there isn't one gene for musicality, for example. It's all way more complex than that. But luckily, over the years and after more knowledge was gained, measuring people's DNA became easier, cheaper, faster. And this allowed researchers to conduct so called genome wide association studies. And in these studies, genetic variants are compared between people to see if they are related to behavior. So these studies actually tell us where these genetic variants are.

For example, a study in 600,000 people, compared to DNA, between people that claimed they can clap in time to a musical beat and people that cannot. And they showed exactly where in the DNA and how much these genetic variants were involved in beat clapping. And colleagues and I have taken this further, and we actually studied this and saw that people that have a genetic predisposition for bead clapping, this is a score that you can calculate. Once you know the results from these genome wise association studies, you can actually take the DNA from everyone you like and calculate a personal score representing his or her genetic predisposition for bead clapping.

This is called a polygenic score. And these scores actually predict that people that have a little bit higher of a genetic predisposition for beat clapping perform a little bit better on musical tests. They listen to music a little bit more often, and they engage in music a little bit more. So, could calculating this score for myself have warned me about my drumming skills?

Well, I calculated this score not for myself, but for Ludwig van Beethoven. You might have heard of him. He is undoubtedly a musical genius. And before passing away, he wrote a letter to his brother, asking him if it could be found out what had been going on with him, as he had been very ill during his life. And a couple of years ago, a different group of researchers collected eight hair strands through different sources and measured Beethoven's DNA and made it publicly available.

So Beethoven's genetic predisposition for beat clapping turned out to be very, very low. You practically can't score any lower. Does this mean that genetics are not important for musicality? No. Twin studies made it very clear that genetic factors play a role in musicality.

Does this mean that Beethoven got successful all due to environmental conditions instead of genetics? No, we cannot conclude that, either. What this shows us, and actually, researchers in my field were already quite aware of this, so Beethoven just was. The perfect illustration, is that these scores, these polygenic scores, cannot be reliably used to predict behavior such as musicality for a single individual.

And why isn't this surprising? These scores actually do not capture the full picture of genetic influences. And once these genome wide association studies, which they're based on, become larger, they will get better at predicting. And in this particular case, of course, also when we measure musicality a bit more precisely than clapping to a musical beat, however, these type of scores will always be most valuable when you apply them to large groups of people to detect small differences instead of to a single individual.

And don't forget, of course, I'm talking now about making predictions based on genetic information. This will always only represent half of the story. There is still the environment. You might be wondering, why bother and use these genetic techniques at all? Well, it isn't a matter of nature versus nurture. It is nature and nurture, and they are intertwined.

We cannot ignore genetics when we study our environments, because not all environments work the same for each genetic package. And actually, not all genetic variants will come out in a certain environment. In other words, genes and the environment interact and correlate with each other. And these scores can be used by researchers such as myself to study this gene, environmental interplay, and how it works. And we use it to actually increase our knowledge about the development of musicality.

So let's say over time, these scores become better. And I would take my own DNA, and I would have tested my genetic predisposition for drumming, and it would have turned out I had none. Would I have really wanted to know? No. For me, drumming was the highlight of the week.

An hour of loud banging on the drums, a rush of adrenaline clearing my mind, and most of all, so much laughing with the teacher and my friend. For me, music really is all about letting loose and having fun. I think we should all engage in music in a way that works best for us personally. Be it to become the best musician, to create amazing music skills, or be it for emotion regulation, or be it to have fun and to laugh.

I would say find a way that music works for you, regardless of your genetics, because music is really for everybody. Thank you.

Science, Education, Genetics, Musicality, Behavioral Genetics, Twin Studies, Tedx Talks