Hollier Lauren P, Maybery Murray T, Keelan Jeffrey A, Hickey Martha, Whitehouse Andrew J O
Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Australia; Neurocognitive Development Unit, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Australia.
Neurocognitive Development Unit, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Australia.
Biol Psychol. 2014 Dec;103:48-53. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2014.08.009. Epub 2014 Aug 20.
Two competing theories address the influence of foetal testosterone on cerebral laterality: one proposing exposure to high foetal testosterone concentrations is related to atypical lateralisation (Geschwind-Galaburda hypothesis), the other that high foetal testosterone concentrations exaggerate typical lateralisation (callosal hypothesis). The current study examined the relationship between cord testosterone concentrations and cerebral laterality for language and spatial memory in adulthood. Male participants with high (>0.15nmol) and low (<0.10nmol) cord testosterone levels were invited to take part in the study (n=18 in each group). Cerebral laterality was measured using functional Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography, while participants completed word generation and visual short-term memory tasks. Typical left lateralisation of language was more common in the high-testosterone group than in the low-testosterone group, χ(2)=4.50, df=1, p=034. Spatial memory laterality was unrelated to cord testosterone level. Our findings indicate that foetal testosterone exposure is related to language laterality in a direction that supports the callosal hypothesis.
一种理论认为，胎儿暴露于高浓度睾酮与非典型偏侧化有关（ Geschwind-Galaburda假说），另一种理论则认为，高胎儿睾酮浓度会加剧典型的偏侧化（胼胝体假说）。本研究调查了脐带血睾酮浓度与成年期语言和空间记忆的大脑偏侧性之间的关系。邀请脐带血睾酮水平高（>0.15nmol）和低（<0.10nmol）的男性参与者参加研究（每组n = 18）。使用功能性经颅多普勒超声测量大脑偏侧性，同时参与者完成单词生成和视觉短期记忆任务。高睾酮组中语言典型的左侧化比低睾酮组更常见，χ(2)=4.50，自由度=1，p = 0.034。空间记忆偏侧性与脐带血睾酮水平无关。我们的研究结果表明，胎儿暴露于睾酮与语言偏侧性有关，这一方向支持胼胝体假说。
