E. Hampson, SPATIAL COGNITION IN HUMANS - POSSIBLE MODULATION BY ANDROGENS AND ESTROGENS, Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience, 20(5), 1995, pp. 397-404
Many studies in nonhuman species have shown that gonadal steroid hormo
nes can influence the regional structure and physiology of the central
nervous system, and can bring about both short- and long-term effects
on behavior. The extent to which human behavior and thought processes
are subtly influenced by the hormonal milieu is unclear. There is pre
liminary evidence from a number of clinical endocrine syndromes, and f
rom studies of normal human subjects, that sex steroids may modulate t
he expression of certain specific cognitive abilities. This paper will
briefly review some recent evidence suggesting that visual-spatial ab
ilities are among the cognitive functions that may be affected.