HORMONAL INFLUENCES ON NEURAL-BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT

描述：雄激素在发育中的作用 认知功能和神经组织 通过研究先天性肾上腺皮质激素缺乏的患者 增生（CAH），一种常染色体隐性遗传疾病， 从产前开始雄激素分泌增加。 一百五十 将患者（50名男性和50名女性）与未受影响的患者进行比较。 亲属和人口统计学匹配的对照。 的才干 评估包括视觉空间能力，数学能力，语言能力， 能力，目标能力和一般智力。 表现 包括手部偏好， 语言偏侧化 三种相互竞争的假说关于产前的关系 将评价雄激素对认知的影响： 1. 雄激素促进认知能力，而男性在这方面表现出色。 平均（数学问题解决，心理旋转能力， 空间感知和目标），并损害那些在女性 平均表现优异（语言流畅性、感知速度和准确性）; 2. 雄激素与一般智力增强有关; 3. 雄激素与言语和语言之间的差异有关， 被解释为学习的表现智能 残疾。 假设产前雄激素暴露与男性- 神经组织的典型模式，反映在减少右手 还将评估偏好和语言偏侧化程度的增加。 最后，结构方程模型将被用来检查关系 儿童期的性别类型活动与随后的 神经组织和认知功能。

DESCRIPTION: The role of androgen in the development of cognitive function and neural organization will be evaluated by studying patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), an autosomal recessive disorder causing increased androgen production beginning prenatally. One hundred fifty patients (50 male and 50 female) will be compared to unaffected relatives and to demographically-matched controls. Abilities to be assessed include visuospatial abilities, mathematical abilities, verbal abilities, targeting abilities and general intelligence. Manifestations of neural organization to be assessed include hand preferences and language lateralization. Three competing hypotheses regarding the relationship of prenatal androgen to cognition will be evaluated: 1. Androgen promotes cognitive abilities at which males excel on average (mathematical problem solving, mental rotations abilities, spatial perception and targeting) and impairs those at which female excel on average (verbal fluency and perceptual speed and accuracy); 2. Androgen is associated with general intellectual enhancement; and 3. Androgen is associated with discrepancies between verbal and performance intelligence that have been interpreted to suggest learning disabilities. Hypotheses that prenatal androgen exposure is associated with masculine- typical patterns of neural organization, reflected in reduced right hand preferences and increased language lateralization, will also be assessed. Finally, structural equation models will be used to examine relationships between sex-typed activities in childhood and subsequent patterns of neural organization and cognitive function.