Testosterone and spatial ability

Testosterone and Spatial Ability
You may have already reached the conclusion that
because spatial skill is one of the strongest male attributes,
it is linked to testosterone. In Chapter 3 we saw
how testosterone is mainly responsible for configuring
the brain of the genetic male foetus (XY) and installing
the 'software' related to the spatial abilities required for
hunting and chasing. Consequently, the more testosterone
the body produces, the more male-orientated the
brain's behaviour will be. Male rats which are injected
with additional male hormone find their way out of a
maze quicker than normal male rats. Female rats also
improve their navigational performance, but not as dramatically
as the males. The aggression level of both
sexes increases.
In the Brain-Wiring Test, high testosterone males score
between -50 and +50 and usually have less difficulty
with map-reading, orienteering, playing video games or
hitting a target. They have fast-growing beards, love
'hunting' sports like football, billiards and motor racing
and are good reverse parkers. Testosterone is also the
hormone that aids single-mindedness and helps avoid
fatigue. Studies show that volunteers injected with
testosterone show greater endurance in physical activi
ties such as walking and long-distance running, and can
concentrate for longer periods of time. Not surprisingly,
lesbians also have many of these attributes. Susan
Resnick of the Institute of Ageing in the US reported in
her findings that girls who received abnormal amounts
of male hormone in the womb also had far superior
spatial skills compared to their sisters who did not
receive the hormone.