Sex differences in visuospatial abilities persist during induced hypogonadism

Abstract

Background Despite well-established sex differences in the performance on tests of several cognitive domains (e.g., visuospatial ability), few studies in humans have evaluated if these sex differences are evident both in the presence of circulating sex hormones and during sex steroid hormonal suppression. Sex differences identified in the relative absence of circulating levels of estradiol and testosterone suggest that differences in brain structure or function exist independent of current hormonal environment and are more likely a reflection of differing developmental exposures and/or genetic substrates. Objective To evaluate cognitive performance in healthy eugonadal men and women before and again during GnRH agonist-induced hypogonadism. Methods Men (n = 16) and women (n = 15) without medical or psychiatric illness were matched for IQ. Cognitive tests were performed at baseline (when eugonadal) and after 68 weeks of GnRH agonist-induced gonadal suppression. The test batteries included measures of verbal and spatial memory, spatial ability, verbal fluency, motor speed/dexterity, and attention/concentration. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures models. Results During both eugonadism and hypogonadism, men performed significantly better than women on several measures of visuospatial performance including mental rotation, line orientation, Money Road Map, Porteus maze, and complex figure drawing. Although some test performances showed an effect of hormone treatment, the majority of these differences reflected an improved performance during hypogonadism compared with baseline (and probably reflected practice effects). Conclusion The well-documented male advantage in visuospatial performance, which we observed during eugonadal conditions, was maintained in the context of short-term suppression of gonadal function in both men and women. These findings suggest that, in humans, sex differences in visuospatial performance are not merely dependent on differences in the current circulating sex steroid environment. Thus sex differences in visuospatial performance in adulthood could reflect early developmental effects of sex steroid exposure or other environmental exposures differing across the sexes as our data confirm that these differences are independent of circulating estradiol or testosterone levels in men and women.

Cognition, The Menstrual Cycle, and Premenstrual Disorders: A Review

“…There is also a large body of research investigating the effects of exogenous administration of sex hormones on cognition. This includes hormone replacement therapy in peri-menopausal and menopausal women [19][20][21] and oral contraceptive pills [22], as well as the effects of induced hypogonadism and hormone add-back therapy in young, healthy women [23,24]. This review, however, focuses on the influence of endogenous hormones in relation to the menstrual cycle and premenstrual mood disorders.…”

Ovarian hormones, sleep and cognition across the adult female lifespan: An integrated perspective

“…Conflicting findings are also observed in premenopausal women who have experienced ovarian failure. For example, GnRHa given to premenopausal women resulted in verbal memory deficits in one study (Craig et al, 2008), but had no effect in others (Guerrieri et al, 2016;Owens et al, 2002). However, perimenopausal women demonstrate impaired verbal memory (Greendale et al, 2009;Weber et al, 2013), as do women that experienced surgical menopause (Sherwin, 1988).…”

Diplopia in Parkinson's disease: Indication of a cortical phenotype with cognitive dysfunction?

“…While the PD groups were matched for age, education, and motor disease severity, there were significantly more men in the PD group with diplopia compared to the healthy control group, resulting in a potential bias when assessing cognitive tests including language or visuospatial tasks, that are known to be influenced by sex 27 . However, men do typically perform better in visuospatial tests than women 28 . Despite the greater percentage of male participants in the PD diplopia group, we found greater visuospatial impairment in the PD diplopia group compared with the HC group and the PD group without diplopia.…”