A relationship between gonadotropins and visuospatial function.

Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) levels were negatively correlated with visuospatial function in two successive testing sessions in 32 young adult men. Men with high concentrations of FSH performed poorly on three-dimensional tests and tests of point localization. Men with low concentrations tended to perform better. Luteinizing Hormone (LH) tended to correlate positively with verbal/sequential skills and with two of the visuospatial skills for one session; testosterone was positively correlated with one spatial test. Multiple regression between the average performance on visuospatial tests and the three hormones produced Rs of 0.67 and 0.60, accounting for 39% and 29% of the variance, respectively, in Sessions 1 and 2. In women, the hormonal/behavior relationships were less clear although in many ways similar. For example, FSH was negatively correlated with one visuospatial test but only after the effects of estradiol and progesterone were partialled out. FSH was positively correlated with word fluency as was LH. With respect to sex differences women were poorer than men on the visuospatial tests and better on verbal fluency which is consistent with women's generally higher FSH levels and the negative relationship between FSH and visuospatial skills and the positive relationship with fluency.