title: Sex hormones in early infancy seem to predict aspects of later language development.
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 5months on language development at age 4years. Interestingly, we found strong positive estradiol and negative testosterone impact on later language performance at age 4years, 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.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology, Leipzig, Germany; Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Psychology, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Gesa
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schaadt
authors.affiliation: German Center for Growth, Development and Health Encouragement in Childhood and Adolescents, Berlin, Germany; Charité-University Medicine, Institute for Experimental Pediatric Endocrinology, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hesse
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology, Leipzig, Germany. Electronic address: friederici@cbs.mpg.de.
authors.forename: Angela D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Friederici
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004958:Estradiol / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D013739:Testosterone; D004958:Estradiol
keywords: Childhood; Estradiol; Language development; Sex hormone; Testosterone