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ABSTRACT
The
major sex differences in cognitive skills are summarized, and
the role of sex hormones in early organization and possible maintenance
of these differences is discussed. Using animal models and human
hormonal anomalies, a good case can be made that prenatal androgens
strongly influence adult cognitive pattern, though the relation
between baseline androgens and spatial ability, for example, need
not be linear. Moreover, men and women remain sensitive to variation
in hormonal state, as evidenced in the fluctuations in cognitive
and motor performance across natural diurnal, menstrual and circannual
rhythms. Evidence from administration of exogenous hormones in
humans is more equivocal, though this field ultimately should
yield useful information.
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