Sex hormones and mental rotation: An intensive longitudinal investigation

Article Article scientifique Article Sex hormones and mental rotation: An intensive longitudinal investigation fre 2013 author Courvoisier Delphine 0000-0002-1956-2607 94475 author Renaud Olivier 0000-0003-4853-4450 133920 author Geiser Christian 596753 author Paschke Kerstin author Gaudy Kevin 554191 author Jordan Kirsten 345-351 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2012.12.007 0018-506X http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0018506X12003066 The present study used an intensive longitudinal design to examine whether mental rotation performance varies according to a monthly cycle in both males and females and whether these variations are related to variations in progesterone, estradiol, and testosterone levels. We collected reaction time and accuracy data for 10 males and seven females each workday over eight weeks using 136 pairs of mental rotation stimuli/ day, and measured sexual hormones concentrations in the saliva twice a week. A mixed linear model statistical analysis revealed that all females and seven males showed significant cycle effects in mental rotation performance. The female cycle showed an amplitude that was twice as large compared with the amplitude found in males. For males and females, estradiol and testosterone were significantly linearly and quadratically related to interindividual variation in performance at the beginning of the study (progesterone was linearly related to performance for females). The association between testosterone and performance differed across sexes: for males, it had an inverse U-shape, for females it was U-shaped. Towards the end of the study, none of the hormones were significantly related to performance anymore. Thus, the relationship between hormones and mental rotation performance disappeared with repeated testing. Only estradiol levels were significantly elevated at the lowest point of the cycle in mental rotation performance in females. In conclusion, in this intensive longitudinal study spanning two months, a monthly cycle in mental rotation performance was found among both males and females, with a larger cycle's amplitude for females. Mental rotation Sex hormones Longitudinal study Monthly cycle Intraindividual variability Dewey 150 108 Section de psychologie 71 false 599 Méthodologie et analyse des données (MAD) Hormones and behavior 63 2 e30d263b-3977-4cc9-9da4-eb352305ffcd Article (Published version) Restricted CourvoisierRenaudGeiserPaschkeGaudyJordan_SexHormonesAndMentalRotation_AnIntensiveLongitudinalInvestigation_HormBehav13.pdf 308628 application/pdf restrictedAccess Faculté de psychologie et des sciences de l'éducation / Section de psychologie

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Sex hormones and mental rotation: An intensive longitudinal investigation	Hormones and behavior			2013	709	3

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Gaudy, Kevin