Nicole T. Nowak

Fingers as a Marker of Prenatal Androgen Exposure

Interest in biological substrates of sex-related variations in psychological and physiological characteristics has led to a search for biomarkers of prenatal hormone exposure that can be measured postnatally. There has been particular interest in digit ratio, the relative lengths of the second and fourth fingers (2D:4D), but its validity as a measure of prenatal androgen has not been established. We report the strongest evaluation of the value of 2D:4D as a biomarker for early androgen exposure. Individuals with 46,XY karyotype but no effective prenatal androgen exposure due to complete androgen insensitivity syndrome had digit ratios that were feminized: they were higher than those of typical men and similar to those of typical women. Nevertheless, the effect was modest in size, and there was considerable within-group variability and between-group overlap, indicating that digit ratio is not a good marker of individual differences in prenatal androgen exposure.

Sources of Marital Conflict in Five Cultures

This analysis of previously collected data examined four fitness-relevant issues for their possible role in marital conflict. These were sex, finances, division of labor, and raising children, selected in light of their pertinence to sex differences in reproductive strategies. Over 2,000 couples in five diverse cultures were studied. Marital conflict was assessed by the Problems with Partner scale, which was previously shown to demonstrate measurement invariance across cultures and genders. All four issues were significantly related to perceived marital problems in almost all cases. Thus, conflict tended to arise around issues relevant to reproductive strategies. A few cultural idiosyncrasies emerged and are discussed. In all cultures, wives reported more problems than husbands. Another important issue was kindness. The results suggest that a key factor in marital success or failure may be kindness necessary to sustain this prolonged and intimate relationship of cooperation for raising ones offspring.

Brain activation patterns in women with acquired hypoactive sexual desire disorder and women with normal sexual function: a cross-sectional pilot study

OBJECTIVE To examine and compare brain activation patterns of premenopausal women with normal sexual function and those with hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) during viewing of validated sexually explicit film clips. DESIGN Cross-sectional pilot study. SETTING University-based clinical research center. PATIENT(S) Premenopausal women. INTERVENTION(S) None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) Areas of brain activation during viewing of sexually explicit film clips. RESULT(S) Women with normal sexual function showed significantly greater activation of the right thalamus, left insula, left precentral gyrus, and left parahippocampal gyrus in comparison with women with HSDD, who exhibited greater activation of the right medial frontal gyrus and left precuneus regions. CONCLUSION(S) Women with HSDD may have alterations in activation of limbic and cortical structures responsible for acquiring, encoding, and retrieving memory, the processing and memory of emotional reactions, and areas responsible for heightened attention to ones own physical state.

Contributions of sex, testosterone, and androgen receptor CAG repeat number to virtual Morris water maze performance.

The possibility that androgens contribute to the male advantage typically found on measures of spatial cognition has been investigated using a variety of approaches. To date, evidence to support the notion that androgens affect spatial cognition in healthy young adults is somewhat equivocal. The present study sought to clarify the association between testosterone (T) and spatial performance by extending measurements of androgenicity to include both measures of circulating T as well as an androgen receptor-specific genetic marker. The aims of this study were to assess the contributions of sex, T, and androgen receptor CAG repeat number (CAGr) on virtual Morris water task (vMWT) performance in a group of healthy young men and women. The hypothesis that men would outperform women on vMWT outcomes was supported. Results indicate that CAGr may interact with T to impact navigation performance and suggest that consideration of androgen receptor sensitivity is an important consideration in evaluating hormone-behavior relationships.

Do women seek humorousness in men because it signals intelligence? A cross-cultural test

Abstract Miller has suggested that people seek humorousness in a mate because humor connotes intelligence, which would be valuable in a spouse. Since males tend to be the competing sex, men have been more strongly selected to be humorous. To test this notion, we explored the role of humor in marriage cross-culturally, in the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Turkey, and Russia. In the first four societies, husbands were perceived to make wives laugh more than the reverse, but wives were funnier in Russia. Spousal humorousness was associated with marital satisfaction in all cultures, especially the wifes satisfaction. Spousal humorousness was less consistently related to spousal intelligence than to some alternative possibilities: spousal kindness, dependability, and understanding. Furthermore, the relationship between these four variables and marital satisfaction was mediated by spousal humorousness. Humor is gratifying in other social contexts as well. Humorists may gain social credit by providing amusement, and may also use humor to gauge anothers mood and to engender liking, perhaps especially in courtship and marriage. Spouses may also take humorousness as a sign of motivation to be amusing, kind, understanding, dependable — as a sign of commitment.

Cognitive Correlates of Spatial Navigation: Associations between Executive Functioning and the Virtual Morris Water Task.

HighlightsWe present associations of executive functioning with place learning and memory.Higher executive abilities correlated with better virtual navigation performance.Men and women differed in the executive abilities recruited for virtual navigation. ABSTRACT Although effective spatial navigation requires memory for objects and locations, navigating a novel environment may also require considerable executive resources. The present study investigated associations between performance on the virtual Morris Water Task (vMWT), an analog version of a nonhuman spatial navigation task, and neuropsychological tests of executive functioning and spatial performance in 75 healthy young adults. More effective vMWT performance (e.g., lower latency and distance to reach hidden platform, greater distance in goal quadrant on a probe trial, fewer path intersections) was associated with better verbal fluency, set switching, response inhibition, and ability to mentally rotate objects. Findings also support a male advantage in spatial navigation, with sex moderating several associations between vMWT performance and executive abilities. Overall, we report a robust relationship between executive functioning and navigational skill, with some evidence that men and women may differentially recruit cognitive abilities when navigating a novel environment.

WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY, THE SPOUSE WILL PLAY: A CROSS-CULTURAL EXAMINATION OF MATE GUARDING IN MARRIED COUPLES

In this post hoc analysis of mate retention behavior, over 3000 married couples from five cultures completed the Marriage and Relationship Questionnaire (MARQ). The Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) was used to test relationships for selected variables. For all countries and both sexes, the spouse being attracted to other people was linked to worry about spousal infidelity. For all cases except the Russians, being attracted to one’s spouse was related to less worry by the spouse about infidelity. In all cases, one’s being attractive was associated with spousal feelings of possessiveness. Having a spouse who went out without them was related to infidelity worries for wives in all groups and husbands in three groups. Feelings of possessiveness were related to wanting to touch the spouse in most groups, and husbands reported more such desire in all groups. Husbands who sought sex outside of marriage worried about reciprocal spousal infidelity in all cultures, as did wives in most cultures. Overall, ...