The Influence of Sex, Puberty, and Hormones on Adolescent Cognitive Development

In adults, sex and steroid hormone differences have been observed in several cognitive domains, most notably in the domains of spatial processing, language, and manual dexterity. Age-related cognitive differences have also been observed throughout the lifespan, with many improvements occurring during childhood. While cognition improves with age, other factors (i.e., sex, pubertal status, and steroid hormone levels) may also influence development. The present study compared performance on a visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) task and three simple articulation (ART) tasks. Pubertal status and hormone levels, at time of testing, were measured. Sex, pubertal status, and hormone differences were observed. This study is one of the first to provide evidence of such differences in typically developing adolescents