Cognitive Sex Differences Are Not Magnified as a Function of Age, Sex Hormones, or Puberty Development During Early Adolescence
Abstract
Are cognitive sex differences magnified by individual differences in age, sex hormones, or puberty development? Cross-sectional samples of 12- to 14-year-old boys (n = 85) and girls (n = 102) completed tasks assessing episodic memory, face recognition, verbal fluency, and mental rotations. Blood estradiol, free testosterone, and self-rated puberty scores were obtained. Sex differences were found on all cognitive measures. However, the magnitude was not larger for older children, hormones and cognitive performance were not associated, and early maturers did not perform better than late maturers. Thus, cognitive sex differences were not associated with age, levels of sex hormones, or puberty development.
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Women perform better than men in tasks measuring face memory.
“women perform better than men in tasks measuring face memory [1]”
From Effects of sex and gonadectomy on social investigation and social recognition in mice (2015) · cites this paper as [1]
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What did you do yesterday? A meta-analysis of sex differences in episodic memory.
Asperholm, M., Högman, N., Rafi, J., & Herlitz, A. (2019) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/bul0000197 · Cited by 182 · see citing works
Self-citationWhy 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
Effects of sex and gonadectomy on social investigation and social recognition in mice
Karlsson, S. A., Haziri, K., Hansson, E., Kettunen, P., & Westberg, L. (2015) · BMC Neuroscience · doi:10.1186/s12868-015-0221-z · Cited by 72 · see citing works
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Background
- Authors
- Herlitz, A., Reuterskiöld, L., Lovén, J., Thilers, P. P., & Rehnman, J.
- Affiliations
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- Stockholm University (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Herlitz, Agneta
- Venue
- Developmental Neuropsychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2013-04
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 167-179
- ISSN
- 1532-6942 (ISSN-L)
- 8756-5641
- OpenAlex
- W2079615765
- Cited by
- 63
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 2.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Developmental Neuropsychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Sexual Differentiation and Disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Sex and Gender in Healthcare
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Keywords
- sex differences in cognition, early adolescence, pubertal development, sex hormones, estradiol, free testosterone, age effects, episodic memory, face recognition (cognition), verbal fluency, mental rotation, individual differences
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Age Factors, Aging, Child, Child Development, Cognition, Female, Humans, Male, Memory, Neuropsychological Tests, Puberty, Sex Characteristics, Sex Factors, Gonadal Steroid Hormones, Verbal Learning, Recognition, Psychology, Self Report
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