The relationship between testosterone levels and cognitive ability patterns

Psychoneuroendocrinology. 1991;16(4):323-34. doi: 10.1016/0306-4530(91)90018-o.

Abstract

The cognitive performance of normal men and women was studied, grouped according to whether the subjects had relatively high or low salivary testosterone (T) concentrations. Men with lower T performed better than other groups on measures of spatial/mathematical ability, tasks at which men normally excel. Women with high T scored higher than low-T women on these same measures. T concentrations did not relate significantly to scores on tests that usually favor women or that do not typically show a sex difference. These results support suggestions of a nonlinear relationship between T concentrations and spatial ability, and demonstrate some task specificity in this respect.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aptitude / physiology*
  • Cognition / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Intelligence / physiology
  • Male
  • Orientation / physiology
  • Problem Solving / physiology
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology
  • Reaction Time / physiology
  • Saliva / metabolism*
  • Sex Characteristics*
  • Space Perception / physiology
  • Testosterone / blood*
  • Verbal Behavior / physiology
  • Verbal Learning / physiology
  • Vocabulary

Substances

  • Testosterone