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Sex hormones affect language lateralisation but not cognitive control in normally cycling women

Hodgetts, S.; Weis, S.; Hausmann, M.

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Authors

S. Hodgetts

S. Weis



Abstract

Natural fluctuations of sex hormones during the menstrual cycle have been shown to modulate language lateralisation. Using the dichotic listening (DL) paradigm, a well-established measurement of language lateralisation, several studies revealed that the left hemispheric language dominance was stronger when levels of estradiol were high. A recent study (Hjelmervik et al., 2012) showed, however, that high levels of follicular estradiol increased lateralisation only in a condition that required participants to cognitively control (top-down) the stimulus-driven (bottom-up) response. This finding suggested that sex hormones modulate lateralisation only if cognitive control demands are high. The present study investigated language lateralisation in 73 normally cycling women under three attention conditions that differed in cognitive control demands. Saliva estradiol and progesterone levels were determined by luminescence immunoassays. Women were allocated to a high or low estradiol group. The results showed a reduced language lateralisation when estradiol and progesterone levels were high. The effect was independent of the attention condition indicating that estradiol marginally affected cognitive control. The findings might suggest that high levels of estradiol especially reduce the stimulus-driven (bottom-up) aspect of lateralisation rather than top-down cognitive control.

Citation

Hodgetts, S., Weis, S., & Hausmann, M. (2015). Sex hormones affect language lateralisation but not cognitive control in normally cycling women. Hormones and Behavior, 74, 194-200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2015.06.019

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 29, 2015
Online Publication Date Jul 3, 2015
Publication Date Aug 1, 2015
Deposit Date Jun 29, 2015
Publicly Available Date Jul 3, 2016
Journal Hormones and Behavior
Print ISSN 0018-506X
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 74
Pages 194-200
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2015.06.019
Keywords Estradiol, Progesterone, Language lateralisation, Dichotic listening, Cognitive control.
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1435302

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Copyright Statement
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Hormones and behavior. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Hormones and behavior, 74, August 2015, 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2015.06.019






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