Sex differences have been established in a number of behaviours, including aspects of cognition, aggression, and sexuality. Although there has been a considerable amount of research concerning the influence of estrogen on sexually dimorphic behaviours, there has been a dearth of investigations on the role of testosterone (T) in these behaviours in women. The studies presented here were undertaken to elucidate the role of T in sexually-dimorphic aspects of psychological functioning in women. In Study 1, users and non-users of oral contraceptives were tested with a battery of neuropsychological tests and questionnaires at two different phases of the menstrual cycle. Results showed that women with chronic low levels of free T induced by oral contraceptives demonstrated better verbal fluency and visuospatial memory performance and reported lower levels of verbal aggression than naturally-cycling women whose free T levels were within the normal female range. Furthermore, although self-ratings of hostility fluctuated across test sessions concomitant with changes in free T levels, performance on cognitive tests did not appear to be influenced by the fluctuations in T levels across the menstrual cycle. In Study 2, women with elevated free T levels due to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) demonstrated worse verbal fluency, verbal memory, manual dexterity, and visuospatial working memory performance, but reported higher levels of anger than healthy, matched control women. Women with PCOS also reported lower levels of sexual cognition and arousal than healthy controls. In Study 3, women with PCOS were randomly assigned to receive 3 months of treatment with an anti-androgen or placebo. Anti-androgen treatment resulted in significant reductions in free T levels and in improvements in verbal fluency performance. Taken together, the results of these three studies suggest that T has a detrimental effect on aspects of cognitive functioning in women, particu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.85094 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Schattman, Linda |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002172983, proquestno: AAINR06339, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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