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. 2012 Feb;126(1):86-96.
doi: 10.1037/a0026652.

Early androgen effects on spatial and mechanical abilities: evidence from congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Sheri A Berenbaum  1 , Kristina L Korman Bryk, Adriene M Beltz
Affiliations

Early androgen effects on spatial and mechanical abilities: evidence from congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Sheri A Berenbaum et al. Behav Neurosci. 2012 Feb.

Abstract

There is considerable controversy about the origins of sex differences in cognitive abilities, particularly the male superiority in spatial abilities. We studied effects of early androgens on spatial and mechanical abilities in adolescents and young adults with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). On tests of three-dimensional mental rotations, geography, and mechanical knowledge, females with CAH scored higher than their unaffected sisters, and males with CAH scored lower than their unaffected brothers. Exploratory regression analyses suggest that androgens affect spatial ability in females directly and through male-typed activity interests. Findings indicate that early androgens influence spatial and mechanical abilities, and that androgen effects on abilities may occur in part through effects on sex-typed activity interests.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Summary of group differences on measures of cognition and male-typed activity interests. Bars represent effect size, d; lines represent 90% confidence intervals.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Individuals’ scores on measures of cognition and male-typed activity interests. Ctl ♀: unaffected females; CAH ♀: females with CAH; Ctl ♂: unaffected males; CAH ♂: males with CAH. Lines represent group means and standard deviations. Circles represent individual female participants; triangles represent individual male participants. Open symbols are unaffected controls; black symbols are individuals with CAH. See the text for reports of statistical tests of group differences.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Cascade model for females depicting a continuum of early androgen effects on male-typed activity interests and spatial ability (controlling for age and vocabulary score). Solid arrows represent simple effects. The dashed arrow represents mediation; statistics are presented for the analysis before and after (with Sobel’s tests) controlling for the mediating variable. The dotted arrow represents the prediction of incremental variation after controlling for the previous predictor.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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