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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Prenatal Testosterone in Mind: Amniotic Fluid Studies

Prenatal Testosterone in Mind: Amniotic Fluid Studies

Lutchmaya, Svetlana
Knickmeyer, Rebecca
Baron-Cohen, Simon

Paperback

Medical ReferenceChild PsychologyGeneral Psychology

ISBN10: 0262524562
ISBN13: 9780262524568
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: Jan 20 2006
Pages: 144
Weight: 0.37
Height: 0.45 Width: 5.04 Depth: 7.72
Language: English
This pioneering study looks at the effects of prenatal testosterone on postnatal development and behavior. Hormonal effects on behavior have long been studied in animals; the unique contribution of this book is to suggest a connection between human fetal hormones and later behavior. It details for the first time testosterone's effect on social and language development, opening a new avenue of research for cognitive neuroscience.

The authors look at samples of amniotic fluid taken during amniocentesis at 16 weeks' gestation, and relate the fetal level of testosterone (which is present in fetuses of both sexes, although in different quantities) to behavior at ages 1, 2, and 4 years. They argue that the amniotic fluid provides a window into the child's past--a chemical record of that child's time in the womb--that allows informed prediction about the child's future brain, mind, and behavior. This is not the retrospective speculation of psychoanalysis, they point out, but an opportunity to study development prospectively and trace developmental precursors and causes of later cognition.

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