Prenatal Testosterone in Mind: Amniotic Fluid Studies

The effect of prenatal levels of testosterone on development and behavior up to age 4.-- Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, author of The Blank Slate, How the Mind Works, and Words and Rules" A lucid presentation of a fascinating and ingenious new body of research." -- Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, author of The Blank Slate, How the Mind Works, and Words and Rules& quot; A lucid presentation of a fascinating and ingenious new body of research.& quot; -- Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, author of The Blank Slate, How the Mind Works, and Words and RulesA lucid presentation of a fascinating and ingenious new body of research. -- Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, author of The Blank Slate, How the Mind Works, and Words and RulesThis pioneering study looks at the effects of prenatal testosterone on postnatal development and behavior. Hormonal effects on behavior have long been studied in animals; the unique contribution of this book is to suggest a connection between human fetal hormones and later behavior. It details for the first time testosterone's effect on social and language development, opening a new avenue of research for cognitive neuroscience. The authors look at samples of amniotic fluid taken during amniocentesis at 16 weeks' gestation, and relate the fetal level of testosterone (which is present in fetuses of both sexes, although in different quantities) to behavior at ages 1, 2, and 4 years. They argue that the amniotic fluid provides a window into the child's past -- a chemical record of that child's time in the womb -- that allows informed prediction about the child's future brain, mind, and behavior. This is not the retrospective speculation of psychoanalysis, they point out, but an opportunity to study development prospectively and trace developmental