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Cognitive gender differences in very young children parallel biologically based cognitive gender differences in
W H Overman1, J Bachevalier, E Schuhmann
1Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Wilmington 28403, USA.
Insights
Young boys excel at object reversal tasks, while young girls perform better on concurrent discrimination tasks, mirroring findings in infant monkeys. These early cognitive gender differences diminish with age.
Area of Science:
- Developmental psychology
- Neuroscience
- Comparative psychology
Background:
- Previous studies in infant monkeys revealed sex-linked cognitive differences in object reversal and concurrent discrimination tasks.
- These cognitive differences in monkeys were reversible through androgen manipulation and specific brain ablations.
- Cognitive gender differences in infant primates suggest potential early-life influences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if similar sex-linked cognitive differences observed in infant monkeys are present in human infants.
- To explore the developmental trajectory of these cognitive gender differences in humans.
- To assess the potential role of androgens in early cognitive development across species.
Main Methods:
- Infant humans were administered two specific cognitive tests: object reversal and concurrent discrimination.
- Performance on these tasks was compared between young boys and young girls.
- Cognitive performance was also assessed in older human subjects to observe developmental changes.
Main Results:
- Human infants exhibited sex-linked performance on the cognitive tasks, mirroring findings in infant monkeys.
- Young boys demonstrated superior performance on the object reversal task.
- Young girls showed greater proficiency on the concurrent discrimination task.
Conclusions:
- Early-emerging cognitive gender differences are present in both human and infant monkey development.
- These differences appear to be transient, diminishing in older subjects.
- Hormonal influences, specifically androgens, likely play a role in the maturation of sex-specific brain systems underlying these cognitive variations.
Abstract:
Infant humans were trained on 2 cognitive tests that have previously revealed, in infant monkeys, a double dissociation that was reversible by perinatal manipulations of androgens and ablations of specific brain sites. Children showed the same sex-linked behavior found with infant monkeys: young boys were superior on the object reversal task and young girls were superior on the concurrent discrimination task. As happened previously with infant monkeys, the gender difference was not apparent in older human subjects. Thus, early in ontogeny, cognitive gender differences have now been discovered in both humans and monkeys, probably a result of gender differences in androgens that influence the maturation rate of specific brain systems.