Sex hormones in early infancy seem to predict aspects of later language 
development

Schaadt, Gesa; Hesse, Volker; Friederici, Angela D.

doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2014.11.015

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Sex hormones in early infancy seem to predict aspects of later language development

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Schaadt, Gesa
Department Neuropsychology, MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Max Planck Society;
Department of Psychology, Humboldt University, Germany;

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Friederici, Angela D.
Department Neuropsychology, MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Schaadt, G., Hesse, V., & Friederici, A. D. (2015). Sex hormones in early infancy seem to predict aspects of later language development. Brain and Language, 141, 70-76. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2014.11.015.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0024-65E4-0

Abstract

Sex differences in the development of cognitive behavior such as language have long been of great research interest. Lately, researchers have started to associate language function and brain differences with diverse sex hormones (e.g., testosterone/estradiol). However, results concerning the impact of early postnatal sex hormone concentration on the child’s later language development are rare. Here, we analyze the impact of testosterone and estradiol in girls and boys as well as their neurophysiological phonemic discrimination at age 5 months on language development at age 4 years. Interestingly, we found strong positive estradiol and negative testosterone impact on later language performance at age 4 years, which was true for both girls and boys. These results demonstrate that postnatal sex hormone surge might be viewed as one factor determining later language development, independent of gender.