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The contribution of twin research to the physiology of exercise

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Ernst Jokl
Ernst Jokl*
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky

Extract

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« Physical characters in general are more influenced by heredity than are mental traits as measured by intelligence tests. Motor activity and temperament seem to be least influenced by heredity ».

(H. H. Newman, Twins and Super Twins, New York, 1942).

Twin research affords an opportunity to study the interplay of heredity and environment. For this reason, twin research is of special interest in the study of physiology of exercise. Genetically, identical twins are the same individual in duplicate because they are the product of a single fertilized egg which splits in half to form two individuals. Non-identical twins are different individuals who through chance were born together. They originate from two different eggs.

In non-identical twins, physique may differ significantly because each partner possesses his own hereditary endowment (fig. 1). By contrast, identical twins represent two editions, so to speak, of the same body type (fig. 2). The degree of correspondence of morphological body features in identical, as against non-identical, twins has been statistically assessed by Newman, Freeman, and Holzinger (Twins, A Study of Heredity and Environment, Chicago, 1937).

Type
Research Article
Information
Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae: twin research , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , January 1955 , pp. 115 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Twin Studies 1956

References

1 After von Verschuer, O.: Die Erbbedingtheit des Körperwachstums. Z. Morphol. 34. 1934 Google Scholar.

3 Genetic Psychology Monographs, IV., 07-Dec. 1929 Google Scholar.

3 Die Sportärztlichen Ergebnisse der II. Olympischen Winterspiele, Bern, 1928 Google Scholar.

4 S. Afr. J. Med. Sci., 1938.

5 Am. Heart Journal, 24, Sept. 1942.

6 Brit Med. J. 16, May, 1942.