Salivary testosterone does not predict mental rotation performance in men or women
Abstract
Multiple studies report relationships between circulating androgens and performance on sexually differentiated spatial cognitive tasks in human adults, yet other studies find no such relationships. Relatively small sample sizes are a likely source of some of these discrepancies. The present study thus tests for activational effects of testosterone (T) using a within-participants design by examining relationships between diurnal fluctuations in salivary T and performance on a male-biased spatial cognitive task (Mental Rotation Task) in the largest sample yet collected: 160 women and 177 men. T concentrations were unrelated to within-sex variation in mental rotation performance in both sexes. Further, between-session learning-related changes in performance were unrelated to T levels, and circadian changes in T were unrelated to changes in spatial performance in either sex. These results suggest that circulating T does not contribute substantially to sex differences in spatial ability in young men and women. By elimination, the contribution of androgens to sex differences in human performance on these tasks may be limited to earlier, organizational periods.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Other studies have found no links between testosterone and spatial, verbal or other gendered domains.
“although other studies have found no links with spatial, verbal or other gendered domains (e.g., Hirnstein et al., 2014;McKeever et al., 1987;Puts et al., 2010).”
From Factors Related to Mean Score Group Differences on Cognitive Ability Tests: A Systematic Review (2025) · cites this paper as Puts et al., 2010
Cites
The Abuse of Power: The Pervasive Fallacy of Power Calculations for Data Analysis
Hoenig, J. M., & Heisey, D. M. (2001) · The American Statistician · doi:10.1198/000313001300339897 · Cited by 2,046 · see citing works
PHOENIX, C. H., GOY, R. W., GERALL, A. A., & YOUNG, W. C. (1959) · Endocrinology · doi:10.1210/endo-65-3-369 · Cited by 1,934 · see citing works
The relationship between androgen levels and human spatial abilities
Shute, V. J., Pellegrino, J. W., Hubert, L., & Reynolds, R. W. (1983) · Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society · doi:10.3758/bf03330010 · Cited by 164 · see citing works
Testosterone levels and spatial ability in men
Silverman, I., Kastuk, D., Choi, J., & Phillips, K. (1999) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/s0306-4530(99)00031-1 · Cited by 159 · cited 6× · see citing works
“…and Knussmann, 1987; Driscoll et al., 2005; Gordon and Lee, 1986; Hausmann et al., 2009, 2000; Hooven et al., 2004; Moffat and Hampson, 1996a; Silverman et al., 1999), although others have not (e.g., Falter et al., 2006; Halari et al., 2005; Hassler et al., 1992; Janowski et al., 1998;…”
InfluentialBurkitt, J., Widman, D., & Saucier, D. M. (2007) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2007.03.007 · Cited by 76 · cited 1× · see citing works
“3 (women) as reported by Burkitt et al. (2007) and those of 15.”
McKeever, W. F., Rich, D. A., Deyo, R. A., & Conner, R. L. (1987) · Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society · doi:10.3758/bf03334734 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The new science of cognitive sex differences
Miller, D. I., & Halpern, D. F. (2014) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2013.10.011 · Cited by 610 · see citing works
Sex differences in cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease
Li, R., & Singh, M. (2014) · Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2014.01.002 · Cited by 527 · see citing works
“…Maylor et al. (2007) 2007 198,121 20–65 Male <0.001 Jansen and Heil (2010) 2010 150 20–70 Male <0.01 Tzuriel and Egozi (2010) 2010 116 6–7 Male <0.01 Puts et al. (2010) 2010 337 20s Male <0.0001 Lange-Kuttner and Ebersbach (2013) 2013 97 6–9 Male <0.05 Mantyla (2013) 2013 72 19–40 Male…”
BackgroundInfluentialThe development of gender differences in spatial reasoning: A meta-analytic review.
Lauer, J. E., Yhang, E., & Lourenco, S. F. (2019) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/bul0000191 · Cited by 239 · see citing works
Women's attractiveness changes with estradiol and progesterone across the ovulatory cycle
Puts, D. A., Bailey, D. H., Cárdenas, R. A., Burriss, R. P., Welling, L. L. M., Wheatley, J. R., & Dawood, K. (2013) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2012.11.007 · Cited by 209 · see citing works
“…values into between-participants components (each participant's mean progesterone value across sessions) andwithin-participants components (for each session, the difference between a participant's progesterone for that session and her mean progesterone across sessions) (Puts et al., 2010).”
BackgroundSelf-citationReilly, D., Neumann, D. L., & Andrews, G. (2015) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/edu0000012 · Cited by 209 · see citing works
On the effects of testosterone on brain behavioral functions
Celec, P., Ostatníková, D., & Hodosy, J. (2015) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2015.00012 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
“In young women, a single dose of testosterone improved spatial memory (Postma et al., 2000).”
BackgroundThe human hippocampus is not sexually-dimorphic: Meta-analysis of structural MRI volumes
Tan, A., Ma, W., Vira, A., Marwha, D., & Eliot, L. (2016) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.08.050 · Cited by 180 · see citing works
Sex Differences in Cognition in Healthy Elderly Individuals
Munro, C. A., Winicki, J., Schretlen, D., Gower, E. W., Turano, K., Munoz, B., Keay, L., Bandeen-Roche, K., & West, S. (2012) · Neuropsychology, development, and cognition. Section B, Aging, neuropsychology and cognition · doi:10.1080/13825585.2012.690366 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
“Results from at least some studies examining the relation between circulating hormones and cognitive functioning, however, would argue against this idea (Puts et al., 2010).”
BackgroundEffects of testosterone on spatial learning and memory in adult male rats
Spritzer, M. D., Daviau, E. D., Coneeny, M. K., Engelman, S. M., Prince, W., & Rodriguez-Wisdom, K. N. (2011) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2011.01.009 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
“This may explain why some studies with eugonadal men have failed to demonstrate a correlation between circulating testosterone levels and spatial ability (Fonda et al., 2005; Matousek and Sherwin, 2010; Puts et al., 2010).”
BackgroundEffects of hormonal contraceptives on mental rotation and verbal fluency
Griksiene, R., & Ruksenas, O. (2011) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2011.03.001 · Cited by 128 · see citing works
“However, a recently presented extensive study (160 women and 177 men) demonstrated no relationship between testosterone concentration and spatial performance in young men and women (Puts et al., 2010).”
BackgroundBerenbaum, S., Bryk, K. L. K., & Beltz, A. (2012) · Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.1037/a0026652 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
“…and hormones may be difficult to interpret (e.g., circulating hormones may actually reflect prenatal hormones) and are not always found (e.g., Puts et al., 2010), probably due to both methodological factors (e.g., statistical power, variations in tests used), and factors that modify the…”
Reilly, D., Neumann, D., & Andrews, G. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44385-0_10 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
“However, not every study finds robust associations (Puts et al., 2010), and the activational role that these hormones play may explain a much smaller proportion of variance in spatial ability than their earlier contribution to brain development (Falter, Arroyo, & Davis, 2006).”
BackgroundSex hormones and mental rotation: an intensive longitudinal investigation.
Courvoisier, D., Renaud, O., Geiser, C., Paschke, K., Gaudy, K., & Jordan, K. (2013) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2012.12.007 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
“…tasks and hormonal fluctuations during themenstrual cycle (Epting and Overman, 1998; Gordon and Lee, 1993; Halari et al., 2005; Peters et al., 1995; Puts et al., 2010; Rosenberg and Park, 2002), or between performance in a mental rotation task and testosterone (Burkitt et al., 2007; Puts et al.,…”
BackgroundWhy Women See Differently from the Way Men See? A Review of Sex Differences in Cognition and Sports
Li, R. (2014) · Journal of Sport and Health Science · doi:10.1016/j.jshs.2014.03.012 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Scheuringer, A., & Pletzer, B. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00381 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Puts, D. A., Pope, L., Hill, A. K., Cárdenas, R., Welling, L., Wheatley, J., & Breedlove, S. (2015) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2015.01.006 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Self-citationSex differences in non-verbal and verbal abilities in childhood and adolescence
Toivainen, T., Papageorgiou, K. A., Tosto, M. G., & Kovas, Y. (2017) · Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.intell.2017.07.007 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
“sexes, in a sample of young adults (Puts et al., 2010).”
BackgroundWomen’s faces and voices are cues to reproductive potential in industrial and forager societies
Wheatley, J., Apicella, C., Burriss, R., Cárdenas, R., Bailey, D. H., Welling, L., & Puts, D. A. (2014) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.02.006 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
“Next, we partitioned T values into between-participants components (each participant’s mean T value across sessions) and withinparticipants components (for each session, the difference between a participant’s T for that session and her mean T across sessions) (Puts et al., 2010).”
MethodSelf-citationDoes the use of hormonal contraceptives affect the mental rotation performance?
Griksiene, R., Monciunskaite, R., Arnatkeviciute, A., & Ruksenas, O. (2018) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.03.004 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
“On the other hand, results of some studies denied contribution of sex steroids to sex differences in mental rotation e.g. (Gordon and Lee, 1993; Puts et al., 2010).”
Backgroundvan Hemmen, J., Veltman, D., Hoekzema, E., Cohen-Kettenis, P., Dessens, A., & Bakker, J. (2016) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhu280 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
“However, not all studies have found these activational effects (Peters et al. 1995; Halari et al. 2005; Falter et al. 2006; Puts et al. 2010; Griksiene and Ruksenas 2011).”
BackgroundPletzer, B., Petasis, O., & Cahill, L. (2014) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2014.05.004 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
“Particularly, testosterone relates positively to performance in mental rotation (e.g. Hooven et al., 2004; Levine et al., 2001; Silverman et al., 1999; Vuoksimaa et al., 2012) (but see Puts et al., 2010) and spatial navigation tasks (Burkitt et al., 2007; Saucier et al., 2002a).”
BackgroundTestosterone influences spatial strategy preferences among adult male rats
Spritzer, M. D., Fox, E., Larsen, G. D., Batson, C. G., Wagner, B. A., & Maher, J. (2013) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2013.03.018 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
“Although recent literature reviews have concluded that elevated circulating testosterone levels do not consistently improve spatial ability in men (Puts et al., 2010; Ulubaev et al., 2009), some human studies have shown that testosterone improves mental rotation ability (Christiansen and Knussmann, 1987; Hooven et al.”
BackgroundLittle, A. (2013) · Frontiers in neuroendocrinology (Print) · doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2013.07.009 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
“, 1995) and so studies using these tasks may be most sensitive to detecting associations with sex hormones, although the limited activational effects seen in some studies (Puts et al., 2010) may point to stronger organizational effects.”
BackgroundA Role for Biology in Gender-Related Behavior
Berenbaum, S., Blakemore, J. E. O., & Beltz, A. (2011) · Sex Roles · doi:10.1007/s11199-011-9990-8 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Sex and menstrual cycle influences on three aspects of attention
Pletzer, B., Harris, T., & Ortner, T. (2017) · Physiology and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.07.012 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Effects of testosterone dose on spatial memory among castrated adult male rats
Wagner, B. A., Braddick, V. C., Batson, C. G., Cullen, B. H., Miller, L. E., & Spritzer, M. D. (2017) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.12.025 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Pubertal testosterone predicts mental rotation performance of young adult males
Vuoksimaa, E., Kaprio, J., Eriksson, C. J. P., & Rose, R. J. (2012) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012.03.013 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
“Puts et al. (2010) have suggested that if there are effects of testosterone on spatial abilities, the timing of these effects must stem from the organizational effects that occur during perinatal or pubertal development when testosterone levels are highest before adulthood.”
BackgroundResultInfluentialNowak, N. T., Diamond, M., Land, S., & Moffat, S. (2014) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.12.003 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Karalexi, M. A., Georgakis, M. K., Dimitriou, N. G., Vichos, T., Katsimpris, A., Petridou, E. T., & Papadopoulos, F. C. (2020) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104721 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
“Whether androgens have activation effects that enhance spatial ability in aM and aF with functional androgen receptors cannot be oversimplified and remains less conclusive (Pintzka et al., 2016; Puts et al., 2010; Spritzer et al., 2011).”
Who Are Virtual Reality Headset Owners? A Survey and Comparison of Headset Owners and Non-Owners
Kelly, J. W., Cherep, L. A., Lim, A., Doty, T. A., & Gilber, S. B. (2021) · IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces · doi:10.1109/vr50410.2021.00095 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
“Some research indicates an impact of circulating sex hormones on spatial task performance [1, 16], but other large-scale studies have failed to find such an effect [36].”
BackgroundBeltz, A. M. (2022) · Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2022.101037 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
The Association Between 2D:4D Ratios and Sociosexuality: A Failure to Replicate
Charles, N., & Alexander, G. M. (2011) · Archives of Sexual Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10508-010-9715-z · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Regulation of cognitive function by androgens and estrogens
Hampson, E. (2018) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2018.03.002 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Testosterone and the brain: from cognition to autism.
Ostatníková, D., Lakatošová, S., Babková, J., Hodosy, J., & Celec, P. (2021) · Physiological Research · doi:10.33549/10.33549/physiolres.934592 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Sex Differences in Brain and Behavioral Development
Beltz, A. M., Blakemore, J. E., & Berenbaum, S. A. (2013) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-397267-5.00064-9 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Wang, L.-J., Chou, M.-C., Chou, W.-J., Lee, M.-J., Lee, S.-Y., Lin, P.-Y., Lee, Y.-H., Yang, Y.-H., & Yen, C.-F. (2017) · Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment · doi:10.2147/ndt.s136717 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
“Puts et al 49 indicated that salivary T levels do not play a role in sex differences in spatial ability among young men and women.”
Beyond Biological Sex: Interactive Effects of Gender Role and Sex Hormones on Spatial Abilities
Pletzer, B., Steinbeisser, J., van Laak, L., & Harris, T. (2019) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2019.00675 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
“, 2013), other studies find no relationship of circulating testosterone levels to mental rotation performance (Halari et al., 2005; Falter et al., 2006; Puts et al., 2010).”
BackgroundResultPerspective and strategy interactively modulate sex differences in a 3D navigation task
Harris, T., Scheuringer, A., & Pletzer, B. (2019) · Biology of Sex Differences · doi:10.1186/s13293-019-0232-z · Cited by 26 · see citing works
What is there to know about the effects of progestins on the human brain and cognition?
Grikšienė, R., Monciunskaite, R., & Ruksenas, O. (2022) · Frontiers in neuroendocrinology (Print) · doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2022.101032 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Durdiaková, J., Lakatošová, S., Kubranská, A., Laznibatová, J., Ficek, A., Ostatníková, D., & Celec, P. (2013) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.05.016 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“Even though some authors argue that contribution of androgens to human performance on mental rotation tasks may be limited to earlier, organizational periods (Courvoisier et al., 2013; Puts et al., 2010), there is some evidence supporting the existence of the association between testosterone levels and mental rotation…”
BackgroundExploring the sex and gender correlates of cognitive sex differences.
Kheloui, S., Brouillard, A., Rossi, M., Marin, M.-F., Mendrek, A., Paquette, D., & Juster, R. (2021) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103452 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Oral contraceptive use in women is associated with defeminization of otoacoustic emission patterns.
Snihur, A., & Hampson, E. (2012) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.02.006 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Moser, V., Christensen, A., Liu, J., Zhou, A.-J., Yagi, S., Beam, C. R., Galea, L., & Pike, C. J. (2018) · Neurobiology of Aging · doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2018.09.016 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
“, 1994) and rodents (Frye and Seliga, 2001), many studies have failed to show an association (Emmelot-Vonk et al., 2008; Haren et al., 2005; Lu et al., 2006; Puts et al., 2010; Resnick et al., 2017), or have found deleterious effects of testosterone under conditions of oxidative stress (Cunningham et al.”
BackgroundBeltz, A., Loviska, A. M., Kelly, D. P., & Nielson, M. G. (2022) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2021.777911 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Digit Ratio Predicts Sense of Direction in Women
Chai, X.-Q. J., & Jacobs, L. F. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0032816 · Cited by 18
“A recent study that included a large data sample (160 women and 177 men) did not find a correlation between salivary testosterone and spatial ability [64].”
BackgroundSchultheiss, O. C., & Zimni, M. (2015) · Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology · doi:10.1007/s40750-014-0012-2 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Hampson, E., Morley, E. E., Evans, K. L., & Fleury, C. (2022) · Frontiers in Endocrinology · doi:10.3389/fendo.2022.888510 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Goyette, S., McCoy, J. G., Kennedy, A., & Sullivan, M. (2012) · Physiology and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.11.018 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Quaiser-Pohl, C., Jansen, P., Lehmann, J., & Kudielka, B. (2016) · Developmental Psychobiology · doi:10.1002/dev.21333 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Shirazi, T. N., Self, H., Cantor, J., Dawood, K., Cárdenas, R., Rosenfield, K. A., Ortiz, T. L., Carré, J., McDaniel, M. A., Blanchard, R., et al. (2020) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2020.104712 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
“…could modulate mating success via enhanced mate location (Gaulin, 1992; Miner et al., 2014), targeting of same-sex competitors (Hill et al., 2017; Puts, 2010), and location of prey items used to provision potential mates (Hawkes, 1990), though tests of this hypothesis in humans are lacking.”
BackgroundSelf-citationGrikšienė, R., Arnatkevic̆iūtė, A., Monciunskaite, R., Koenig, T., & Ruksenas, O. (2019) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-019-55433-y · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Age-related changes in matching novel objects across viewpoints.
Pilz, K., Konar, Y., Vuong, Q., Bennett, P. J., & Sekuler, A. (2011) · Vision Research · doi:10.1016/j.visres.2011.07.009 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“…for spatial cognitive functioning is still debated (e.g., Aleman et al., 2004; Falter, Arroyo, & Davis, 2006; Hooven et al., 2004; Liben et al., 2002; Puts et al., 2010), and the exact relationship between testosterone levels and performance on mental rotation tasks and aging has yet to be defined.”
Effects of acute alcohol intoxication on verbal memory in young men as a function of time of day.
Poltavski, D., Marino, J., Guido, J. M., Kulland, A., & Petros, T. (2011) · Physiology and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2010.10.007 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Harris, T., Hagg, J., & Pletzer, B. (2022) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2022.755393 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Shirazi, T. N., Self, H., Dawood, K., Cárdenas, R. A., Welling, L. L. M., Rosenfield, K. A., Ortiz, T. L., Carré, J. M., Balasubramanian, R., Delaney, A., et al. (2020) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104733 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Self-citationPhysiological and perceptual correlates of masculinity in children's voices.
Cartei, V., Banerjee, R., Garnham, A., Oakhill, J., Roberts, L., Anns, S., Bond, R. A., & Reby, D. (2020) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2019.104616 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Sex and strategy effects on brain activation during a 3D-navigation task
Noachtar, I., Harris, T., Hidalgo-Lopez, E., & Pletzer, B. (2022) · Communications Biology · doi:10.1038/s42003-022-03147-9 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Shirazi, T. N., Levenberg, K., Cunningham, H., Self, H., Dawood, K., Cárdenas, R., Ortiz, T. L., Carré, J. M., Breedlove, S., & Puts, D. A. (2020) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2020.104886 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Self-citationRelationships among Musical Aptitude, Digit Ratio and Testosterone in Men and Women
Borniger, J. C., Chaudhry, A., & Muehlenbein, M. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057637 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“relationships between male-biased spatial performance and adult circulating androgens [9] or digit ratios, a putative proxy for early androgens [8].”
BackgroundLow Perinatal Androgens Predict Recalled Childhood Gender Nonconformity in Men
Shirazi, T. N., Self, H., Rosenfield, K. A., Dawood, K., Welling, L., Cárdenas, R., Bailey, J., Balasubramanian, R., Delaney, A., Breedlove, S., et al. (2021) · Psychology Science · doi:10.1177/09567976211036075 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Self-citationSawicka, A. K., Michalak, K. M., Naparło, B., Bermudo-Gallaguet, A., Mataró, M., Winklewski, P., & Marcinkowska, A. (2025) · Biology · doi:10.3390/biology14081060 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Kubranská, A., Lakatošová, S., Schmidtová, E., Durdiaková, J., Celec, P., & Ostatníková, D. (2014) · General Physiology and Biophysics · doi:10.4149/gpb_2014005 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Testosterone, gender identity and gender-stereotyped personality attributes.
Casto, K., Cohen, D., Akinola, M., & Mehta, P. H. (2024) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2024.105540 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“…’ s role in explaining sex effects on spatial cognition have provided examples for testing the mediating and moderating roles of psychosocial factors, including indices of masculinity and femininity (Constantinescu et al., 2018; Hausmann et al., 2009; Pletzer et al., 2019; Puts et al., 2010).”
BackgroundResultAndrogen receptor polymorphism, mental rotation, and spatial visualization in men.
Sankar, J., & Hampson, E. (2021) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105239 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Eye-movements during number comparison: Associations to sex and sex hormones
Schulte, L., Hawelka, S., & Pletzer, B. (2020) · Physiology and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2020.113161 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“[9,13,22,26], but see [20,17,52]), the role of estradiol in verbal and memory functions (e.”
Davignon, L., Brouillard, A., Juster, R., & Marin, M.-F. (2023) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105454 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“However, salivary testosterone did not correlate with visuospatial performance in a large sample of young adults (Puts et al., 2010).”
BackgroundResultDelinquency, Androgens, and the Family
Ellis, L., & Das, S. (2013) · International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology · doi:10.1177/0306624x12440564 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“Despite this evidence, a recent study of healthy men and women found no within-sex correlation between circulating saliva testosterone levels and spatial reasoning (Puts et al., 2010).”
BackgroundPsychoneuroendocrine protocol to comprehensively study sexually dimorphic cognition
Kheloui, S., Rossi, M., Jacmin-Park, S., Larocque, O., Vallée, M., Kerr, P., Bourdon, O., & Juster, R. (2021) · Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.cpnec.2021.100050 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Gender Differences in Cognitive Abilities in Human Adults
Nanova, P., Kolev, V., & Yordanova, J. (2024) · Proceedings of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences · doi:10.7546/crabs.2024.05.01 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Sakaguchi, K., & Tawata, S. (2024) · Frontiers in Endocrinology · doi:10.3389/fendo.2024.1343759 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Evidence that perinatal ovarian hormones promote women’s sexual attraction to men
Shirazi, T. N., Self, H., Dawood, K., Welling, L., Cárdenas, R., Rosenfield, K. A., Bailey, J., Balasubramanian, R., Delaney, A., Breedlove, S., et al. (2021) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105431 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Self-citationDurdiaková, J., Celec, P., Laznibatová, J., Minárik, G., & Ostatníková, D. (2016) · Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis · doi:10.21307/ane-2017-006 · Cited by 4
“6_627_Durdiakova_v3.indd 71 13/04/16 20:05 Some authors argue for a contribution of androgens to brain organization, and subsequently human cognition may be limited to organizational periods (Puts et al. 2010).”
BackgroundGaižauskaitė, R., Zelionkaitė, I., & Grikšienė, R. (2025) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115520 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Still little evidence sex differences in spatial navigation are evolutionary adaptations
Hults, C. M., Francis, R. C., Clint, E., Smith, W., Sober, E., Garland, T., & Rhodes, J. S. (2024) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.231532 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“11 : 231532 activational effects (see [130,131]).”
Davis, S., & Blake, A. (2018) · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-76333-0_8 · Cited by 2
Spatial Navigation and Landscape Preferences
Silverman, I., & Choi, J. (2015) · doi:10.1002/9781119125563.evpsych108 · Cited by 1
Factors Related to Mean Score Group Differences on Cognitive Ability Tests: A Systematic Review
Cuppello, S., Zibarras, L. D., & Corr, P. J. (2025) · Trends in Psychology · doi:10.1007/s43076-025-00504-5
Long-term effects of gender-affirming hormone therapy on cognition: A narrative review.
Thurston, L. T., Galper, M., Taghdisi, D., Walsh, R. J., & Einstein, G. (2026) · Frontiers in neuroendocrinology (Print) · doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2026.101294
Pheromone exposure impairs spatial task performance in young men.
Pietschnig, J., Nader, I., & Gittler, G. (2012) · Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement · doi:10.1037/a0026194
Human Vulnerability for Brain and Cognitive Traits
Geary, D. (2015) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-801562-9.00007-7
- Authors
- Puts, D. A., Cárdenas, R. A., Bailey, D. H., Burriss, R. P., Jordan, C. L., & Breedlove, S. M.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Michigan State University (US)
- University of Missouri (US)
- Corresponding author
- Puts, David A.
- Venue
- Hormones and Behavior
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-07
- Volume
- 58
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 282-289
- ISSN
- 0018-506X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2130049273
- Cited by
- 89
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 21.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Hormones and Behavior (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Sexual Differentiation and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Keywords
- salivary testosterone, mental rotation, spatial ability, sex differences, androgens, circadian rhythm
- MeSH terms
- Circadian Rhythm, Cognition, Female, Humans, Imagination, Learning, Male, Psychometrics, Saliva, Sex Characteristics, Space Perception, Testosterone, Time Factors, Reproducibility of Results, Photoperiod, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
