Identical twins Kayla and Kellie Bingham stock much than carnal attributes. They some bask running, are competitory shot players and emotion trivia nights. In school, they received akin grades and standardized exam scores.
The women, present 31, didn’t springiness their similarity overmuch thought — it conscionable came with being a twin. Then, successful 2016, they were accused of cheating successful aesculapian school.
A prof who was remotely monitoring an eight-hour exam noticed that the twins were progressing likewise though the questions and had galore of the aforesaid incorrect answers. To her, that meant they were cheating.
The Binghams filed a suit against the assemblage and turned to Nancy Segal, a Cal State Fullerton science prof who has spent her vocation studying twins, to assistance wide their names.
After a five-day proceedings successful November, which included grounds from Segal, a assemblage decided that the Medical University of South Carolina had defamed the sisters and awarded them $1.5 million.
Segal, who is the founding manager of the Twin Studies Center astatine Cal State Fullerton, testified that it’s communal for identical twins to person akin trial scores.
The Binghams near aesculapian schoolhouse aft being shunned by their peers. They went to instrumentality schoolhouse instead, graduating past year.
“We cognize we did thing wrong, but trying to support ourselves seemed impossible,” Kayla Bingham said. “It was a horrible situation, and the suit seemed to beryllium the lone mode to wide our names.
“Dr. Segal was incredibly influential successful the case, particularly helping the assemblage recognize the similarities and the investigating concepts betwixt twins, specifically identical twins.”
Segal opened the Twins Studies Center astatine Cal State Fullerton erstwhile she began moving astatine the assemblage successful 1991. She hoped to not lone enactment probe connected twins but to besides supply a spot for the nationalist to get information. She often gets questions from parents of twins who are looking for answers astir their children and however champion to enactment them.
“I bash a batch of scholarly quantitative work, but I besides enactment precise progressive and live successful the nationalist domain,” Segal said. “And I deliberation it’s precise important to get these probe findings to the radical who tin astir payment from them.”
Segal was successful her past twelvemonth of assemblage astatine Boston University erstwhile her abnormal science prof gave an duty to constitute astir radical adjusting to situations. Segal decided to gully connected a concern from her puerility successful New York City, wherever her fraternal duplicate sister tested into a much precocious simple schoolhouse people than she did.
“What ever had rankled maine was the information that my sister is simply a small smarter than I am,” Segal said. “So I thought I would constitute a reappraisal portion connected duplicate schoolhouse separation. From that infinitesimal on, I was hooked.”
Genetics assistance explicate wherefore identical twins execute likewise successful acquisition settings.
Growing up, Segal liked ballet portion her sister hated it, preferring alternatively to instrumentality play classes. Such divergent interests are not antithetic for fraternal twins, who are nary much genetically alike than immoderate 2 siblings. Identical twins person the aforesaid familial blueprint, which leads to akin behaviors and thought processes.
In 2012, Segal published “Born Together, Reared Apart: The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study,” which delved into probe that she and others had done years earlier studying pairs of twins who had been raised separately. The survey gave them a accidental to look astatine the power of genes and the situation connected behaviour and personality.
“We recovered adjacent identical twins raised isolated are much alike than fraternal twins raised together,” she said. “It’s precise hard to explicate that without notation to a familial explanation. I’m not saying genes are everything. ... I would ne'er accidental that. Identical twins don’t amusement cleanable similarity, but they are consistently much alike than immoderate different brace of people.”
When she testified successful the Binghams’ lawsuit, she explained that it would person been much astonishing if the women’s answers had been importantly different.
“These are identical twins who process accusation the aforesaid mode and person akin abilities and interests,” she said. “I would person been shocked if they hadn’t performed similarly.”
While Segal enjoys studying twins, she besides finds fulfillment successful helping the satellite amended recognize them.
The Binghams are not the lone identical twins who person been accused of cheating connected exams. Over the years, Segal has fielded questions from families successful akin situations.
“These girls suffered for years due to the fact that of this allegation,” Segal said. “This lawsuit is important due to the fact that these situations harm families. Society arsenic a full is not arsenic attuned arsenic it should beryllium to the antithetic types of twins and their behaviors.”
English (US)