The influence of prenatal sex hormones on development of brain lateralisation and cognitive performance

Brain lateralisation is the functional specialization of the brain, with some functions performed primarily by the left hemisphere, and others by the right hemisphere. Lateralisation differs in strength and direction between individuals, and among tasks within individuals, potentially affecting cognitive performance. Both the development of individual differences in brain lateralisation and the functional consequences of these are still elusive. There is long standing debate to what extent individual differences in lateralisation are due to variation in early exposure to sex hormones. We use a unique data set to test this: In the year 2000, prenatal sex hormone levels were measured in the amniotic fluid of pregnant women . In the year 2015, brain lateralisation and cognitive performance is assessed in the children born from these pregnancies (30 boys, 30 girls). Brain lateralisation of verbal fluency, mental rotation and facial emotion processing is measured with functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD). In my presentation I will cover the following topics: 1) The relationship between prenatal exposure to sex hormones on brain lateralisation. 2) The relationship between brain lateralisation and cognitive performance. Results are being processed at this moment and will be presented at the conference.