Sanders G, Ross-Field L
Department of Psychology, City of London Polytechnic.
Int J Neurosci. 1987 Sep;36(1-2):1-16. doi: 10.3109/00207458709002134.
The organizing action that prenatal sex hormones exert on the brain has been implicated in the aetiology of sex differences in cognitive abilities and cerebral asymmetries. Prenatal sex hormones are known to determine neuroendocrine responses and subsequent adult sexual behaviour in nonhuman animals and these hormones may also influence human sexual orientation. To unify these observations, we elaborate a sexual orientation model of neuropsychological development which predicts that sex differences in neuroendocrine responses, cerebral asymmetries, and cognitive abilities are related to sexual orientation rather than to sex per se. A common problem in the study of sex differences is that biological and sociocultural explanations are confounded. The sexual orientation model suggests a new research strategy, the comparison of homosexual and heterosexual groups, for which explanations in terms of sociocultural factors would be more difficult to sustain. The available evidence supports the model: In terms of a neuroendocrine response, cerebral asymmetry, and cognitive abilities, homosexual males resemble heterosexual females rather than heterosexual males. Our conclusions lead to questions that further research in this area should address, and to a consideration of problems which such research may have to face.
产前性激素对大脑的组织作用被认为与认知能力和大脑不对称性方面的性别差异病因有关。已知产前性激素能决定非人类动物的神经内分泌反应及随后的成年性行为，并且这些激素可能也会影响人类的性取向。为了统一这些观察结果，我们阐述了一种神经心理发展的性取向模型，该模型预测神经内分泌反应、大脑不对称性和认知能力方面的性别差异与性取向有关，而非与性别本身有关。性别差异研究中的一个常见问题是生物学和社会文化解释相互混淆。性取向模型提出了一种新的研究策略，即比较同性恋和异性恋群体，对于这种策略，从社会文化因素角度进行解释将更难成立。现有证据支持该模型：在神经内分泌反应、大脑不对称性和认知能力方面，同性恋男性与异性恋女性相似，而非与异性恋男性相似。我们的结论引发了该领域进一步研究应解决的问题，以及对这类研究可能不得不面对的问题的思考。
